


Prisoner

by VeryImpressive



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic, Star Wars Legends: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Drama, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Force Bond, Gen, Gray-ish Revan, Implied Sexual Content, Neutral-ish Revan, Other, Psychic Bond, Psychological Drama, Redemption, Romance, Slow Build, Slow-Burning - Freeform, Spiritual, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-04-24 17:21:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 18
Words: 62,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4928458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeryImpressive/pseuds/VeryImpressive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darth Revan wasn't sure how he ended up in this predicament, perhaps it was the arrogance gifted to him by stopping his apprentice's betrayal before it could begin? Or perhaps it was being so sure that he could not be defeated by a group of Jedi Padawans. For all intents and purposes, there were worse things than being imprisoned on Dantooine. Eventual LSM Revan/Bastila; Heavy AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The battle was at a fevered pitch.

Through the endless eddies and currents of the Force, I could feel lives winking out of existence and the mesmerizing ocean of fear, triumph and concentration and it was all so very delicious. And as the seconds stretched into minutes, I found my eyes drifting over to the Leviathan and I didn't need a mirror to know that the grin that was stretching out over my lips was devious. Did the fool honestly think I wouldn't know about it? Did he not even consider the possibility that I could see it in his mind? Malak and I had known each other since before we could walk, I had always been able to read him and he never knew it. And then the grin fell from my face as I felt the Jedi and the Republic Soliders enter the periphery of my awareness in the Force, this needed to be ended quickly. Turning to one of the crew pit officers and giving him a sharp nod, I returned my attention to his ship. It was the coward's way of dealing with him, I would admit that, but I did not have the time or the patience to deal with Malak in a duel or through slimy games of politics.

It was more prudent to pull the rug out from under him and deliver the killing blow, and as that crew pit officer began to count down, I held my breath. As the countdown entered its last five seconds, I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in. I would never admit that I was holding a silent and begrudging requiem for the only person that I could ever call my best friend – and as the countdown stopped and I slowly felt nearly nine thousand lives being torn from the force, I had to admit that Malak had died years ago.  _Darth_ Malak however had become a tempestuous, arrogant, impatient and rash fool that no longer served a purpose and who had become more of a liability then an asset. His death was of no consequence to me and if my ability to see into the future was correct, his death was beneficial. The future was always in motion, but if the vision that ultimately to me going through with my decision was correct, he would have no issue with killing me either or better yet doing it from afar either. Turnabout had continued to always be fair play between the two of us – but Malak was dead now and none of that mattered anymore. It was time for me to begin anew with a new ball of clay, but first, first I would deal with my enemies before finding an adequate new student.

"Was Admiral Karath extracted from the Leviathan as I instructed?" I turned and asked my bridge commander, Admiral Varrow. The middle aged human male was not inept in his assignment, but I didn't want him here. Saul Karath for all of his shortcomings was a brilliant tactician and someone wasted in Malak's service as far as I was concerned. I had taken great pains to make sure that my agents were not detected when they boarded Malak's vessel, drugged Karath and brought him here.

Admiral Varrow ran a hand through his graying hair and nodded – I could see that was fearful and he was practically shouting the question at me mentally. He was simply going to be transferred to another ship, not killed, but I'd let him stew in the possibility of being killed. His fear was quite wonderful, "Yes Lord Revan, our agents did have to kill two junior aides to the Admiral, but he was successful extracted."

"And what of the strike team that the Jedi sent?" I asked, not taking my sight off of the viewport and the raging battle below. There was something about this battle and the events that had taken place that made me uneasy. Not uneasy in a bad way, but the Dark Side was whispering to me in my ear that the Force had moved into another direction and events had just transpired that would secure my victory.

Malak was dead, there was no one who was capable of dethroning me, the Republic was on the run and the Core was in reach. The Star Force was working at capacity and millions of Republic soldiers and citizens defected to my empire every day. I would soon begin the plan to launch an invasion of the core, but first the mid-rim needed to be conquered completely and pacified. And when I felt the tug of the Jedi on my ship, I knew that this was another hurdle that needed to be overcome. I took my eyes off of the battle and peered at the Admiral through my mask, watching him as he received a report from one of his aides. When the aide hurriedly whispered something into the Admiral's ear, I felt a sharp spike of ear from him and I knew that it was not good news. I smiled wickedly as he turned back to me and swallowed thickly in fear, "My Lord, the Jedi have penetrated the command deck."

I turned my eyes back to the viewport and tied my hands behind my back, "Alert my elite guard, order them to the bridge and begin to evacuate your crew to the auxiliary bridge. And once the Dark Jedi have arrived on the bridge, I want you to instruct security throughout this deck to allow the Jedi to pass unobstructed to the bridge. I would like to see the faces of the Jedi foolhardy enough to attempt this."

"My lord is that wise? With Lord Malak dead, you are running the risk of the Jedi taking your life and the Empire would be left leaderless-…" I understood his reasoning, it was not entirely misplaced and that was the only reason that I was allowing his questioning of my orders to pass unpunished. Raising a hand to stop his words, he shut his mouth instantaneously while I chose my response carefully.

"It matters not, I am fully capable of defending myself against the Jedi," I waved his concern off and folded my arms over my chest. "What you need to do is to make sure that my orders are carried out and that command function is transferred there. I will meet the Jedi here and I will dispose of them quite easily, do not fear."

I was not concerned with the safety of the bridge crew, in fact I could care less, but in the event that I was proven wrong and these Jedi were lucky enough to kill me or even wound me – they could not be allowed to gain control of this ship. As my personal flag ship, it contained access to most command codes, strategies and endless amounts of valuable data that could destroy all that I had built. I was thoroughly sure that I was being paranoid, but it was better to be paranoid then to be dead and take everything down with me. The sound of bridge door opening and the feel of the Dark Jedi drew my attention back towards the entrance – and I knew that I was sending these men to their deaths. That, again, did not matter – they would be useful tools to gage the strength of my would-be assassins. I would wait until the Jedi slew all of them to engage them directly. I walked close enough to them as the leader of my personal unit of Dark Jedi stood at attention with his seven subordinates behind him. The Jedi would prove more than a match for them.

The dark robbed man bowed at the waist, "You summoned us Master?"

I nodded, my hands clasped behind my back, "Indeed – surely you have felt the presences of the Jedi that have boarded this ship? I have no doubt that they have attempted to do so in order to kill me – consequently, I have a task for your team."

"We are at your command," He bowed again, and I took a moment to look at all of their faces and I realized that they were hanging on my every word. Thanks to my mask, I was free to roll my eyes and reaffirm my belief that they were useful tools.

* * *

It was fairly simple to know where he was.

Anyone with a rudimentary knowledge on how to use the Force could feel him. Revan was on the bridge, a dark, pulsing nexus of power and as I sliced through the torso of yet another Dark Jedi, I reached out and touched him in the Force. He was gathering his strength with alarming intensity and when I felt a slight sense of surprise from him when he felt my presence, it was replaced with bemusement. Scowling intensely at the mocking attitude in the Force, I deflected blaster blots from the squad of Sith Troopers quickly approaching our position and closed my mind off. But I was not quick enough and I was thankful that I had the foresight to take some form of cover before the Dark Lord of the Sith invaded my mind. And when his deep, rich and strangely warm voice came through my mind, I could feel nothing but utter shock.

I had expected someone else entirely – someone whose very voice reeked of the Dark Side of the Force, but it was not the case with Darth Revan. Perhaps I should have listened to Master Zhar, perhaps I should not have built the sickly, demented picture of Darth Revan until I had actually met him. He was proving to be strange.

" _You are a strange one little Jedi,"_  He chuckled with dark amusement. " _You radiate pure power, enough that you can withstand my very presence – that is impressive enough. Perhaps I shall keep you when this is through – you have earned that…"_

And I gasped as I could almost feel the tendrils of his presence reach further and further into my mind, and then his voice was back. What he told me next sent a shiver of fear down to my very core, " _Ah_   _yes… I will most definitely keep you…"_

* * *

I had heard rumors of the Padawan Bastila Shan's power of Battle Meditation and how the Republic and the Jedi were using her power to keep me out of the core worlds. What I did not expect was for the Jedi to be foolish enough to deliver her to me – right to my feet. The girl was very powerful and because of that I could almost see the logic in sending her,  _almost_  anyway. What she lacked was drive, what she lacked was will and because of that – all of that power was no threat to me directly. She was simply a foolhardy child who simply had the misfortune of having the masters fill her head with delusions of grandeur. Perhaps the Force had willed that we would meet, perhaps it was simply luck, but I knew that I would never know why the Jedi were foolish enough to think that this girl could kill me. I had not fought all of my life, learned all that I had learned, sacrificed so much and lived through all of it to be taken down by a Jedi Padawan who was willingly playing pawn to the Republic. I would teach her the grievous error of her misguided ways.

My eyes snapped open when I heard the blast door to the bridge forced open, and I unconsciously rested my hand on the hilt of my lightsaber. They had arrived at the bridge quicker than I had anticipated, but that was no matter – my full strength was gathered and I was more the ready to take on five Jedi Padawans. Turning, I watched as the Jedi battled three of my remaining Dark Jedi and it was at this point that activated my weapon and watched. To leader – Bastila Shan I assumed – to put it mildly, was breathtaking – the gray eyes, the beautiful hair, the fierce look of determination, I might have been distracted if I were not so painfully aware that she was here to kill me. And before I knew it, two of the Dark Jedi were down, dead and it was simply Bastila and my last line of defense battling it out to until death.

Quickly deflecting the blaster-fire that the foolish Republic Solider aimed at me, I grasped his throat in the Force and began to squeeze very slowly, extracting every last delicious scintilla of fear and panic from him. The solider and my servant died almost simultaneously and when both bodies collapsed to the floor, I brought my lightsaber up into a defensive posture. My style of fighting had changed over the years and they had most definitely been instructed by my older master, Master Zhar and he would have trained them in my old style. I would attack first, almost blindly, that's how much time had passed since he taught me how to fight. But now, now I would not make a move until they did and that left room for them to make a mistake. But the boldness of these Jedi, particularly Bastila, surprised me.

"You cannot win Revan!" Her crisp accent was very refreshing, it was lovely.

"If you are so sure of yourselves," I practically purred back - the potential that she radiated was intoxicating and I would not be shy about it. I wondered if she had told her companions about our  _interaction_. "Then I suggest you make your move."

They moved like anxious animals and I was very impressed to see that Padawan Shan was simply holding back and observing my clashing with her companions. It made an involuntary smile come across my face and I made a silent note in the back of mind to not underestimate her. But what drew the genuine smile to my face was when I used the Force to summon my offhand lightsaber that was strapped to my arm into my hand and drive it right into the surprised Jedi's torso. Pulling it out swiftly, I decided to give the Jedi a small bit of mercy for his boldness and brought my main weapon up to sever his head from his body. Spinning back around to face the two remaining Jedi that were attacking me, I angled myself so that I would not be taken surmise by Bastila if she decided to join the battle and pressed my lead.

Driving my two opponents back towards one of the command pits, I became keenly aware of the fact that Bastila was now… she was now using her power on her companions. Sparing a glance back towards the girl, my breath caught as I witnessed her on her knees, and through the Force, a swirling and pungent aroma surrounded her. Glaring silent daggers at her, I sent a powerful shove through the Force at my opponents and then sent powerful arc off lighting at Bastila. I was quite confident that I could defeat the Jedi with or without the girl's "gift" – but it would make it difficult and I had no time to waste here. When I heard Bastila's scream of utter pain and her subsequent fall out of the meditative trance, I turned my attention back to the two Jedi fools that I suddenly no longer had patience for.

Reaching out to the Force, I exerted my full strength and overwhelmed the girl, ripping the lightsaber from her hand and forcing her to her knees. With one clean sweep of my lightsaber, her head fell free from her body and she collapsed to the ground, most certainly dead. I did not get to where I was by luck of the draw, I had fought all of the ground that it took to get here and neither these Jedi or Battle Meditation would be able to stop me from achieving my admittedly lofty goals.

But in turning my back on Bastila, I might have made my biggest mistake of the day by forgetting my promise to myself to underestimate her. I suppose I had blinded myself to her in my predatory and very slow advance on the second fallen Jedi. I did not see Bastila slowly and yet silently force her body up, I did not hear her make her way behind me and I most definitely did not anticipate the crack of a very hard lightsaber against the un-guarded back of my head. And as the pain set it and I dropped my lightsabers, the only thoughts and feelings that I felt as I drifted into blackness and hit the cool, hard deck was a begrudging, but strong respect for her. There were not many people alive with the tenacity – or ability for that matter – that could sneak up on me like that and completely disarm me. When I closed my eyes, I was felt a profound sense of relief that I had evacuated the bridge crew and closed off all functions to the secure auxiliary bridge. Admirals Varrow and Karath could administrate things in a competent way until I broke free of the chains that the Jedi and the Republic would undoubtedly put me in, they would be just fine.

Still, I couldn't help but feel impressed and very angry by and with Bastila Shan.

" _I will never underestimate her or turn my back on her ever again."_

* * *

I couldn't believe the turn of these events, and even as Serena and I managed to drag Revan's unconscious body back to the escape pods – it still was shocking. I had captured Darth Revan, Darth Malak was dead and the Sith Fleet was very close to being routed from the Mid-Rim all together. Thank the Force! Just the enormity of the consequences of this day made my eyes water. It was against the Jedi way to show emotions such as the one I was feeling at the moment, but damn it I was tired of war and the prospect of it ending made me feel positively giddy. It even overshadowed the grief that I felt by the awful deaths of my friends who had trained on this mission with me. Darth Revan's incapacitation and Darth Malak's death seemed worth it to me, now it was in the Jedi Council's hands on what to do.

Sliding Revan's body into the seat between the two of us, I buckled him in and reached up to press the airlock button and then slapped the eject button. If Admiral Dodonna and Master Vandar did their part, they would be waiting to intercept this escape pod and take us to safety. Now there was nothing more to do but wait. That was until I felt Serena's eyes burning into the side of my head and I spared her a speculative look, "I know that this is surprising, but think about it! We have him!"

"He butchered them Bastila, you saw it and you did nothing!" Serena spat back.

"I did! I just wasn't quick enough!" I replied rather loudly, far louder than I'd like.

Serena sighed heavily and shook her head before turning her attention back to Revan who now sat with his head slumped against my shoulder. I could tell what she wanted me to do and I was silently debating if it was wise, "I want to see him!"

I remained silently, looking at the heavily armored and robed figure and when I reached out in the Force and touched him, I conceded that it wasn't such a bad thing to do. With a deep breath, I propped him up in the seat, lowered his hood and reached around to the back his head to take off the infamous mask. When I looked at his face, I actually dropped the mask in shock at his face and I heard Serena let out her own gasp. I had not expected Revan to look like this, not from the horror stories of his legendary ability for cruelty. He looked young and yet old at the same time with a clean shaven face, boyish features and the scars he bore. His lips were so obviously made for smirking as I would have expected from him, and it was then that I realized that they all coalesced to make a very handsome face. But I would never admit that to Serena or anyone else, only the blush that came to my face betrayed anything and I doubted she could see it. Sighing, I clamped down on the thoughts and tried to take in the obvious signs of Dark Side taint to quell them.

"He's… he's not what I expected," Serena finally spoke first.

I nodded, "It is surprising."

I couldn't shake the feeling that my life had just taken a sharp right turn.

 


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan observes, plots and seethes as he is taken to the Jedi in chains.

**Darth Revan's Point of View**

I could not be contained by binders and a neural disruptor – I had long developed ways of deactivating the pitiful means of containment with my mind alone and it was amusing to me that they thought that they could. But ultimately it would serve no at this point purpose to escape – I was deep inside Republic Space and several days away from the nearest friendly ship. In fact, if my guards were telling the truth, I was less than a few hours from Dantooine. Apparently I had been unconscious for two days with the combined influence of several sedatives, the neural disruptor and the Force itself. From what the doctor who was observing me told the guards, I had attempted to wake up several times and that was what motivated them to put me under for the journey into their territory. The fools evidently did not notice that I had broken through most of it and was now keenly awake and aware of my surroundings. Now I was debating on what I could do – with an exertion of my will, I could break the neural disruptor and the binders around my arms, hands, legs and feet. When the neural disruptor was off of me, I could kill the five guards outside of my shielded cell, crush the generators and find my way off of his ship. But then, then I remembered something about my position.

The Jedi might have been fools, but they were not stupid – and yes there was an enormous difference. A stupid group of people might not have even bothered to put binders and a disruptor on me, believing that the shield around my cell could not be broken through. The Jedi knew that the disruptor around my neck made the difference between my pacification and my takeover of this ship and murder of all onboard and they knew I was more than capable of escaping, they just hoped that I wouldn't be able to do so. These Republic fools probably thought that with all of their drugs and technology that I was not capable of even moving and I had to physically fight down the urge to show them the error of their ways. Instead, I looked around what presumably was the brig of the ship that I was on and discovered that I was more heavily guarded then I anticipated. I could probably kill all of the men barehanded and still live, but by the time that I moved on to the droids and the turrets that were locked onto me, they'd fire the killing shot at me.

"Oh, his lordship is up," One of the men drawled arrogantly in front of me and I turned my attention back to them and focused my eyes on the speaker. He was a young man, in fact I could almost assume that he was a teenager and considering the Republic's manpower problem at the moment, I wouldn't have been surprised. Messy blonde hair, a cocky smirk, he was riding high on his victory over me and he was barely hiding it at all from either me or his friends. "Are you comfy my  _lord_?"

I could actually feel my left eye twitch with annoyance at the mocking, biting tone in his voice and I had to control myself. I couldn't spring myself out of prison just yet – I had to get off of this ship and preferably out of space. Dantooine was a big and empty place, I still had friends there from when I was a child and I knew the enclave there like the back of my hand. Yes…that's how I'd do it, I'd wait until the Jedi were confident that they had pacified me and when I was safely off of this ship.

Smiling at the man, I felt my fingers flex involuntarily, "Didn't your parents ever teach you not to throw food at the zoo animals? You could get quite hurt,  _child_ …"

I relished the flare that engulfed the boy's cheeks as my own barb hit home, and really, he should know better than to mock me. Yes, they had their victory, but it was a temporary one – they did capture me, but they hadn't secured me in a cell and made sure I couldn't hurt anyone. That victory might have lasted quite a bit longer, but no, what they had done was effectively back me into a corner and I was known to always win when that happened. My mind raced at light years per second, my instincts and tactical skills worked into overdrive, and I fought with no hesitation – I was transformed into something else when I felt like I needed to get out a bad situation. This little fool was lucky that it was too early for my escape because if it hadn't been, I would have taken pleasure in crushing his bare neck. I simply smirked and looked down to the bulkhead as the boy cocked his rifle and I heard the power function come on with a high pitched noise, "I really want to do it."

"What makes you think that you even could?" I looked back up to him and smiled inquisitively, cocking my head. "You know that even if you did survive the methods that I would take to defend myself, you would probably come out of them fairly damaged and if I'm not mistaken, I'm fairly sure that the Republic would not be happy if I had an accident. After all, I am their ultimate key for them defeating-…"

The boy pulled his rifle back and glared nails into me, "You overestimate yo-…"

"Alright then," I interrupted him, an idea forming in my head – this fool was proving to be more useful than I had thought, he would draw my captors to me. In fact I wanted his anger to draw one in particular to me – I wanted to see her wretchedly pretty face. The Jedi girl would suffer unimaginable pain and suffering from me in the end, but only when I was utterly done with her. "Kill me, put a blaster bolt right through my forehead, I have committed so many crimes and caused the death of so many beings that I am quite sure you'd be called a hero."

I smiled inwardly as his companions did nothing to stop the foolish boy from lowering the shield around my cell – nor did they stop him from coming into my cell with me and I wanted to scoff. Who trained this boy? Did his instructor tell him that it was the greatest idea to step into a cell with the Dark Lord of the Sith himself? Did he really think that I couldn't kill him in my current state? Did he think that the damned blaster rifle could stop me? He was very stupid, "Yes… you want to do it."

I had already overwhelmed the neural disruptor to the point where I could feel the Force minutely, but that was more than enough as he approached me. I felt the brush of the Force against my mind as I grasped at one of the few straws that I could feel – and when I established my mental control over it, I grasped the boy in the Force. The Jedi did not practice this and I did not teach my Dark Jedi this ability, so it should not have been such a surprise when they all looked shocked at their immobilized companion. Using the Force, I mentally ripped the rifle from his hands and turned around to face his gaping companions, "Summon Bastila Shan now! Or I will break every single bone in his body  _simultaneousl_ y, he will die quickly, but the last feeling that he will ever feel will be a most unimaginable pain."

"Do it!" The boy choked out over my invisible grip on his throat.

"Yes," I agreed, nodding with a smug smile and then I used the Force to touch their unguarded and soft minds, forcing the suggestion in them. Akin to a Jedi mind trick and based on the same concept, this trick was a little bit more forceful. "And you will not alert the Jedi to this development and after you have communicated with her, you will forget that this ever happened. You will not remember what I have done to you – and you will never speak to anyone about the events in this room."

All five of them nodded and I smiled as one of them walked over to the communicator on the wall and presumably followed my instructions to the letter. If my mind control technique worked, then once they called her, they would return to what they were doing before they discovered that I was awake and it would be as if none of this had ever happened. When the solider at the communication station turned around, I released the boy from my grasp in the Force and gave him a not so gentle telekinetic shove out of the cell. I made a mental note to come back and kill this child in the end – I did not appreciate being mocked, let alone by them.

I watched as the boy reset the shield over my cell with the look of a blank automaton on his face and when I sat back and relaxed as best as I could, trying to dampen and hide myself in the Force. I couldn't afford for the Republic, let alone the Jedi to know that I had managed to reestablished my control over the Force while still wearing the collar. The Republic would no doubt beg the Council for my almost immediate execution and the Jedi Council would likely inevitably try to use their combined power to cut me off from the Force itself. No, I had to appear vulnerable until the time was right and with that thought, I closed my eyes to calm myself for my coming conversation with my abductor. I genuinely wished to have a simple conversation with her and I wanted to learn if her actions aboard my ship were pure luck or was she viable as an opponent? I had a hunch that our fates were intertwined the moment she was selected to lead the attack on me and if that were true, it was good to learn all that I could about her while I was in this situation.

' _Besides_ ,' I observed dryly, ' _It's not like I can do anything else_.'

* * *

The heat of battle did many things and sure I had seen her face long enough to observe that she was pretty, but now when it was just the two of us, I could see that she was strikingly beautiful. But it was the eyes that really burned themselves into my mind, they were unfathomably gray and… I was surprised when the errant thought that I could get lost in them appeared in my head. With the exception of her physical beauty and the gift granted to her by the Force, she struck me was unimpressive to say the least. I did not need to see her through the Force to know that she was a conflicted individual in which the Jedi teachings had not settled into her mind easily. She probably had to recite the code with every single stressful situation and I knew that when I was free from my bonds and back in my empire, it would not take a lot of pressure to make her see things my way – it would be easy.

"Tell me Padawan – did you happen take my lightsabers with you when you took me from my ship? I would hate to think of them as being lost," I asked her lightly starting out with something that was not so aggressive, I had to lure her in, "I have had those lightsabers since I was a Padawan, imagine how you'd feel if you lost-…"

She held her hand up to silence me, "I have your lightsabers, however I regret to inform you that you will never see them again – you will spend the rest of your days on Dantooine and for where you are allowed to be, you will not need them."

"That remains to be seen my dear," I smirked darkly at her.

I could practically feel her flare up in the Force when she glared murderous daggers at me, "You will refer to me as Padawan, just as I will refer to you as Darth Revan."

"I would prefer that you refer to me as Master," I quipped with a smile, ignoring her deepening glare, "But that is something that we can work on later – for now you will tell me on how you intend on keeping me on Dantooine, will you keep me in a cage for the rest of my life? I can assure you that it will not stop this war, at all."

That was the most amusing thought that I had when I was pondering their motives for capturing me after I killed Malak. They believed without my leadership or Malak's, my empire would collapse into anarchy and disintegrate without so much as a Republic life lost. But in their arrogance and ignorance they did not even so much as suspect that I had another card to play to keep the leadership alive until I could return. They never suspected that deep within the core of Malachor V, I kept a highly trained army of assassins that I could summon to any place in the Galaxy and they didn't know that the woman I placed in charge of the academy, my first Master, Darth Traya – could handle things until I could return. In fact, if things did get to chaotic and the Admiralty could not keep control of things, I knew that Traya would step in to stabilize things because ultimately our goals were very similar.

Yes, things would be fine in the empire until I returned.

The girl's eyes narrowed at my silence, "What do you mean?"

"I'll make it easy for you Jedi," I said, looking her directly in the eye. "There is only one way to silence me completely – just one, and it is the one thing that you will not allow. You think cutting me off from the Force is my fear? No my dear, there are ways to reestablish contact with it. Wipe my mind, reprogram me? The galaxy is crawling with my servants and interaction with one will undo all of that work."

I leaned forward, "I will get out of here eventually, one day – you will slip, and all it will take is five minutes at a holocom station for your fate to be sealed. There is only one way to make sure that none of this comes to pass and that is to kill me."

Even if she did give in, which I suspected that she wouldn't at this point, I was more than capable of stopping her. The point of my manipulation wasn't to get her to kill me, it was to break her resolve, it was to make her want and act on it and not resist. Judging by the expression on her face, I saw that she was torn – and that was a good thing. The seed had been planted at least and corruption was a slow thing but when the seed was planted, it took exceptionally strong willpower to resist it. The girl's weakness was indeed the only thing that could save her future.

She didn't know it of course, she was too young and too idealistic – but because she had to actually think about it – she was already in my grasp and that's what mattered. Perhaps she would talk to one of the masters and they would see my designs – but even then, it would be too late, she had thought about killing me just to kill me, given it serious thought. But then she did something that I did not expect and I knew that I had miscalculated, however marginally, it still was a mistake that would cost me ground. She put her hands on her hips and glared down at me, almost baring her teeth, "I know what you are trying to do – you want me to entertain thoughts of killing you, and while I confess that I would gain no greater joy, it is not the Jedi way. I will not succumb to your awful manipulations."

"You surprise me," I complimented her and it was genuine, but then I placed my smirk back on my face, "But remember one of the fundamentals of your basic training my young, foolish soon to-be apprentice – the future is always in motion."

I grinned as her face paled and as I expected she soon recovered and turned around to leave the room with a huff and left me alone to my thoughts. This time on Dantooine would be inconsequential to say the least, it might have an effect on my nerves, seeing Master Vrook tended to do that, but it wouldn't change me. So I resigned myself to begin making my plans for when I returned to the empire – and I suspected that I would have to dismantle the leadership of several places that Malak had the most influence in, including the leadership of the Academy on Korriban, on third of the Admiralty Corp and maybe a third of the Dark Jedi for that matter. There was no way that Malak would be foolhardy enough to attempt something like he was if he didn't have at least some support from the Force blind servants and those in touch with the Dark Side of the Force. I was tempted to make that call to Malachor and unleash the horde upon the enemies from within, a horde that they had no chance of stopping, but I knew that I would have to do it myself.

And then there was the matter of Darth Traya's new apprentices – the man who looked as if he had stabbed himself with Vibroblades for fun and the one that Malak had almost affectionately labeled as a ghost. I could handle the one that called himself Darth Sion, there were a multitude of different ways of killing someone who "could not die" and I had a wild imagination when it came to such things. He could rise a hundred times after being struck down all that he wanted too, and he could keep himself alive with the sheer power of his rage all that he wanted too – but it was tough to seek revenge when you're fired into a star out of a missile shell. The other, the other would be difficult, but my old Master appeared to be keeping them in line and that was all that mattered for now. They would never know that I would be watching them for the slightest misstep and if they stepped out of line even once – I would show them the true power of the Dark Side of the Force from its master.

* * *

I was so bored by this planet as a child.

From the moment Darth Traya, who was known as Kreia at the time, taught me to feel the utter power of the life ebbing off of this planet to the last night I ever spent here, it had bored me terribly. I thought that it had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and that it was in fact the perfect place for a Jedi Enclave. But now, as I discreetly tried to get a feel for the planet as the shuttle descended from the Republic Warship, there was an undercurrent of fear, tension and… excitement from the inhabitants. It had brought a smile to my face and a small flicker of hope within it – perhaps Dantooine would not be boring after all. Maybe it would be even more interesting by the fact Padawan Shan had not stopped looking at me since she and her companion Jedi had come to retrieve me from my cell. That fact made my smile grow larger, perhaps the girl wasn't as brain dead as she appeared to be and perhaps she had more independence then I suspected initially, I had hoped so. I finally turned and locked eyes with her, enjoying the unadulterated fear in her eyes.

"What's the matter apprentice?" I asked her, ignoring the other Jedi girl's gasp. "I do hope that your _discoveries_  during your meditation haven't unnerved you at all?"

Bastila blinked and her tone became deadly, "…so you did do something to me?"

In fact I did – when I told her aboard my ship that I would keep her, I did keep my promise. While I had unfettered accesses to her mind, I had forged a bond between the two of us – it would prove useful in a multitude of ways. The ancient technique of the Sith to communicate to their servants through an implanted bond was something that I saved for few people and it did take days sometimes weeks to grow to full capacity. When I planted it within her, I did it under the assumption that she would soon enter training under me to be my servant and my weapon. But this was far more entertaining to say the least – she didn't know that, like it or not, our fates were intertwined. There was a catch to establishing a bond like the one that the girl and I now shared – my unnatural death would cause the girl to go insane, it would break her mentally beyond all possible repair. While her natural or unnatural death would wound me greatly and it would take me some time to regain my strength. Now, now it was serving as an insurance policy, a gift from the Force.

If they killed me, then Bastila would be driven so insane she'd try to kill herself.

If Bastila was killed then it would take me years to fully recover from the wound.

And if she, or the Council tried to remove it, well… the effect would almost be the same but it would be inflicted upon the both of us. We would be both so weakened that we might not recover and it would drive us both mad. Knowing the morals of the Jedi, and knowing how they would react, I knew that they would not harm me and risk losing their precious weapon. Jedi did not believe in luck, and to a certain extent the Sith did not either, but I was different in that respect. As I told Bastila, the future was always in motion and I did not think that the Force had set all of this up for my benefit. I was sure that it was luck that spurred me to create the bond with Bastila, and that bond almost assured me the protection of the Jedi from the Republic itself. As much as I was loathed to admit it, I did need their protection.

"Search your feelings apprentice," I told her quietly, keeping eye contact even as the shuttle shook slightly after entering the planet's atmosphere. "Clear your mind and search it, you will discover exactly what is there now – do not fear the bond."

"Bond?! What bond?!" The blonde, human female Jedi shouted from beside her.

"Be silent girl," I sneered at her, causing her to sit back down – it was good to know that even without the Force, the Jedi feared me. "This doesn't concern you!"

The look on Bastila's face was that of abject fear and a hint of curiosity, and I understood why she was feeling the way that she was. She was searching the bond through the Force and by this time I suspected that it was at its full strength and the implications of that were being revealed to her. We were bonded for life, I had the power to remove it myself but I would not do it – I wouldn't give up an asset such as the girl and I would not risk the anonymity of those who I was already bonded with. She was a part of that now and no matter how much mental discipline or training she acquired, there was no way for her to hide her mind from me. The girl was mine before she even knew it and now, she knew the deepest extent of my control over her and to my supreme delight, for the first time, she collapsed under the pressure that I was putting on her. She lunged at me, flying up from her seat across from me and she promptly began to try and strangle, if that was the word for it, me with her bare hands. I could not be more thrilled by this development.

"I hate you," She screamed, a hint of untamed rage in her voice, "I hate you!"

And just as I was tempted to reopen myself to the Force and push her off of me, her Jedi friend pulled her back to try and calm her down as the shuttle made its approach to the enclave. It would not be prudent to have her in a blind rage in front of her masters, but still, no matter the situation, I could not shake the look of utter victory and smugness on my face. I had just had my final confirmation Bastila Shan was wild, and very, very untamed and she would be easy to break when the time came. So I was content for the moment to just sit and watch the girl come undone.

"What did you do to her you monster?!" The other girl shrieked at me.

I smiled innocently at her, "Nothing, I just exposed who she really is."

"I'm going to rip your guts out!" Bastila growled at me, barely staying down.

"How delightfully violent," I complimented, yes – her power would be most useful in the days ahead and when I felt the shuttle's landing struts hit ground, my smile widened, luck was on my side again, "Oh, but I'm afraid that you might want to stop with your wonderfully dark threats my soon to-be apprentice, I suspect that your current masters are waiting and they will not be happy to hear such things."

And like a trained animal, she seemed to dampen down – and that pleased me.

She knew how to take orders and when to turn it on and off.

The perfect servant.

Excellent.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan, as always, plans his moves three steps ahead as the Jedi suffer from their overconfidence

I had expected the welcome to be somewhat colder from the Jedi – I had expected all of them to at least look at me in distaste, if not outright rage. After all that I had done to them, all of them that I had killed and after all of them that I had betrayed, there were still some that welcomed me with open arms. Granted, there were some that I had known for years and had genuinely looked like they wanted to spit in my face, but I was too blindsided by the warmness of others. Master Zhar had done something that he hadn't done since I was very young, he had hugged me – he was more notable of the many masters I had served in my life for his hugs. A more common being might mistake their actions for utter foolishness and naivety, but I knew the Jedi very well. I knew that even when I thought I was alone, somehow they would be watching me – it would be sometime before I was allowed true privacy to do what I wanted. It was then that it would be safe to contact the empire and then I would be able to return to my work, and possibly destroy this enclave.

The first week was somewhat unbearable and so incredibly boring – I was to meditate for five hours, have lunch, meditate for another three hours, Master Dorak would then drone endlessly about the history of the Jedi and that was my day. I had been one of the best students with this subject as a Padawan and I had retained most of that information, but now, now I could recite a complete timeline of the founding of the Republic and the Jedi half asleep. Something that did arouse my interest however and it was the fact that the last time I had seen Bastila was when she attacked me on the shuttle. In fact, when I tentatively slipped past the neural disruptor and tried to locate through our bond, I discovered that she wasn't even on the planet and it made my blood boil momentarily. Did I have to do all of the work myself?! While that fool Dorak was droning on about long dead politicians and Jedi Masters, could he not feel the seed of my influence within the girl's mind?

How incredibly stupid! It just baffled me how they couldn't feel something wrong with the girl and it annoyed me that they were putting her at risk. Not because she would die, I could care less about her life and her happiness – as long as she was simply alive, it would not affect me. If I toppled over one day in the courtyard because of something that the impetuous little child did to get herself killed, I would not be a happy man. Oh if those fools sent the girl to her death, I would slaughter them all in my anger and I would burn this planet to the ground before leaving it. They needed to touch her in the Force, they needed to feel the fact that she and I were bonded, they needed to understand that what happened to me affected her and what happened to her would affect me. If they did not discover it soon and if I did not see her soon, I decided before slipping back into a meditative trance in my assigned quarters, I would go directly to them and tell them myself.

Looking up to the calm deep blue sky that hung over the courtyard that I had spent a lot of my childhood free-time in, I sighed deeply. This courtyard might have been the only redeeming thing about this place in my opinion – it was the only place that seemed remotely peaceful throughout my apprenticeship. Some of her earliest memories were of escaping the yammering of my peers to this courtyard to absorb the quietness and meditate. Kreia's initial lessons of feeling something through the Force began here, and I couldn't help but replicate the same lessons as I sat on my knees in almost the same spot years later. I didn't care if this placed burned down, but at the same time, there were some places here that did mean something to me.

When I heard a pair of footsteps behind me, I opened my eyes and turned my head slightly to give my audience an indication that I was listening. For the most part I had been ignored by the younger Jedi and that was a good thing, I did not have a lot of patience for children to begin with and I'd prefer not to use what patience I had on Jedi children. Actually turning my head to take the boy and the girl in, I smothered a chuckle at their facial expressions. They had no doubt heard about my presence here and wondered where the scary, evil Lord of the Sith was, well – I reflected dryly – he wasn't that far away. I was sure that these two were cursing their masters at this point in time, "You two are interrupting my meditation?"

"We're sorry my lord," My widened from my right ear to my left ear, either these two were not comfortable with referring to me by my actual name or maybe the Force of my personality was forcing the rightful title out of their little pee-brains.

I felt my annoyance grow, but I still managed to sound calm to them, "What is it?"

"The Jedi Council requests your presence in the Council Chamber," The girl told me with a respectable strength in her voice, "Padawan Shan is in the chamber as well."

A smile spread across my lips as I assimilated that information for a moment, I could see no other reason that she and I were being summoned by the Council together. I knew how they were going to react – they could react no other way and if they did, I would be forced to defend myself. I had grown fairly good at circumventing the neural disruptor and I think if I exerted myself even further I could pull it off. If I was going to be attacked by the Jedi Council, which I would readily admit that there was a slight chance of that happening, I would not be caught off guard so easily. And when I easily rose to my knees, I offered the children an easy smile and turned to begin in the direction of the council chamber.

* * *

I had been in this chamber countless times in my life, so much so that I could actually remember remarking to Malak that I had gotten in too much trouble and I had been the age of that boy and girl who had summoned me. I made my final stand to the Jedi here before going taking up command of the Republic Military, I had witnessed my first master's exile in this room, it held a great deal of memories for me. Now it would host another set of memories, as I stood before another council and prepared to be berated for something that I did. But this set of memories was different, I was no Jedi in this instance – I did not take orders from them, as if I had obeyed them  _when_  I was a Jedi in this first place. But I patiently stood there in front of Master Vander, Vrook, Dorak and Zhar, listening to them talk and occasionally shifting my gaze to the glaring Jedi Padawan Shan beside them.

With my arms folded behind my back, I stood lazily in front of the present members of the council and put on a patronizing expression. I was no longer a child – I was no longer some rebellious student to punish for putting Kath Hound waste in Master Vrook's boots. I was the Dark Lord of the Sith, I commanded countless legions of men and women ready to do my bidding at a simple word. I struck fear into the hearts of the deadliest warriors in the galaxy – I had decapitated Mandalore the Ultimate and had destroyed planets, the fools would not talk to me like mere child.

"Silence," I snapped easily, earning a scowl from all in the room, but they did stop lecturing me as if I was still under their authority, "You have some nerve to talk down to me – I have not been a Jedi for quite some time and even then as I recall correctly, your opinions didn't mean much to me. The girl and I are bonded and I and I alone possess the power to sever the bond, any attempt that you make to do so will not only cause great physical harm to both myself and Bastila, but mental as well. Master Dorak, do the archives say anything about side effects of this bond?"

The man shook his head and leaned forward in his chair, "No, care to elaborate."

I smirked and began to pace, occasionally sharing a look with Bastila, "I'd take great pleasure in informing you what would happen – now keep in mind that I did not do this intentionally, the girl got the best of me when I expected to capture her, I placed the bond there because I intended on transforming her into one of my servants. But when she captured me, I knew that it would prove to be a great insurance policy, because the Jedi will not risk a life or risk harm coming upon s-…"

"With you? I'd bend that rule," Bastila snapped at me before she could help herself.

I chuckled as the Masters admonished her with a look and then back to me to give me the signal to continue. If there was one constant about Jedi Masters, they did pay attention to Sith knowledge very closely if only so they knew how to do destroy it or fight against it, "…as I said… it is a great insurance policy, because if I die, or if I am seriously injured, not even mortally wounded, but simply greatly injured, it will cause her to lose her grip on reality and never get it back, and she'll die,  _fas_ t."

Dorak raised an eyebrow, "Your death will cause hers?"

"Yes, either right at the point of my death, or the madness she'll fly into will cause her to take her own life," I nodded with a pleasant smile – but then I sobered slightly, "But, the tradeoff is this, if she dies unnaturally, it will wound me quite gravely, it will not kill me, but it will take several years for me to regain my former strength. Nevertheless, if you insist on sending the Padawan on dangerous missions where her life is in danger – I will not be pleased and when I'm done, you won't either. I must insist that she remain close to me, for her safety and for mine."

Vrook snorted, "You are in no position to dictate terms."

I had to quell the anger that rose up within me at the sound of the old-man's mocking tone, something that I had heard for years and dreaded, but I would no longer be intimidated by this man, "Alright then – how about I make a promise, I promise you this Master Vrook, if Padawan Shan is killed and I am wounded because of that I make you this promise. I will tie you up with this collar around your neck, and I will inflict unimaginable pain upon your Padawan and I'll make sure she's alive through the whole thing. Then after she finally loses the will to live, I will finally kill her, and then I will move to your Padawan, and yours, yours and finally yours Master Vandar. I will not break the bond, and I will not risk her life – she will remain under my protection or I am going to slaughter everyone in this enclave and I will start with the children, working my way up to you fine gen-…"

Dorak and Vrook seemed quite disturbed, Zhar was not terribly shocked and Vandar seemed troubled – this was not the reaction that I had expected. In fact I was quite sure that all of them, universally, would allow my request but keep the girl from me at all times. I knew Zhar and Vandar very well, I knew what their expressions meant, and when I looked to Bastila, she wore an expression of utter shock on her face, something that I had seen on her face through all our encounters. I decided to try and give her a show of good faith as well as the council, "Do not fear Padawan Shan, this bond is not that intrusive, we can hear each other's thoughts, communicate with each other, sense each other's feelings – but this bond cannot influence your actions, I, or the Dark Side itself cannot somehow take control."

Dorak interrupted me, "So it is not corrupting?"

I shook my head, not taking my eyes off of Bastila, "No – there are such bonds, but this is not one of them, it was something developed by the ancient Sith Lords to communicate with their deadliest of servants and to spy, not dominate their mind – providing that neither of us die – it is quite harmless and can be a great asset."

"No – we cannot allow Bastila to be in contact with the Sith," Vrook practically spat the last word out at me as his objections grew louder than the chatter from the rest of the council, "With the neural disruptor you are no threat and can be defeated…"

The laugh that escaped me was unintentional to be sure, I had only been here a week and it was still not time to lord over them the fact that this thing was pretty much useless. It was only a matter of time before I could completely remove it from my neck, but I was still just as deadly by circumventing it. With my hands folded around my back, I relished his look of confusion on his face and took the more direct route. I would be purposely ambiguous as to whether or not I could and had circumvented the collar, but allude to the fact that I could do it, "Master Vrook, seeing as you spent the entire length of the Mandalorian War scaring students with how far I had fallen to the Dark Side, you wouldn't know this: I was captured by the Mandalorians once, they thought that a collar much like one could entrap me."

I smirked as his face fell, "The collar was electrified, but I fought through the pain with the force of my own will and it eventually destroyed itself – the collar didn't hold me, and truthfully, I could replicate the same results with the charming o-…"

"These collars are not electrified, so you can't repeat that," Zhar interrupted.

True – but the difference was that I was going around the neural block using my will instead of charging through the pain to use the Force. I turned to him and smiled warmly, I didn't hate Zhar, I thought he was a fool but I did not despise him like Dorak and Vrook, "You've known me since I was a child Master, you know I usually don't stop until I find a way around something that is keeping me trapped."

Before he could respond, I addressed this all again, "Here is how this will play out, you execute me, Bastila goes mad and more than likely kills herself, if Bastila dies, I will kill every living thing in this enclave. Strip me of the Force then? The Dark Side of the Force has a way around that – I am in the perfect position to dictate."

Vandar sighed and lowered his head – his opinion was what ultimately mattered on this council, "We expect something in return for keeping Bastila out of harm's way."

"I will not divulge military secrets, and even if I did, how would you know that I'm not leading you into a trap?" I grinned at the distraught Jedi Master – he, like his peers obviously didn't like to be boxed into a corner. If they stripped me of the Force, the ancient ritual to regain it would be a small price to pay, if they executed me, their precious weapon would kill herself, and if she died, all of them would die.

In layman's terms – I won and they didn't even know until it was too late.

"How are you producing so many ships?" Zhar inquired lightly from his side.

I rolled my eyes, "Wouldn't you like to know."

"How?" Vrook repeated more firmly, "We demand that you tell us!"

"Make me you insipid, sanctimonious fool," I glared vibroblades at him as he did the same exact thing to me – he did not like being called names. I then fixed him with a mocking glaring and folded my arms over my chest, "Oh that's right – you can't! to make it simple Masters, you might have me – but I have the girl and if the girl is put in harm's way and killed, you will suffer for it, remember that when thinking-…"

Before I was about to finish and storm out to leave them to think about it, I was momentarily taken aback by how Bastila reacted. I had not expected her to react this way, to throw herself on the sword for the Jedi – I had not expected it at all. I had expected some sort of self-preservation instinct to kick in, but no, she would rather risk being killed to just wound me then to preserve herself. It actually made me reconsider severing the bond, but no – no it was clear that I would not have to go that far yet. Until I had to do so I was content to sit and watch her have a little episode in front of the one group that it was most unadvisable to do so in front of and the more that I listened to her, I grew more pleased, she was quite vocal.

"Masters – if I might add a little sanity here, what good could possibly arise out of bowing the wishes of a Sith Lord?!" She screeched at them and I silently observed that my manipulations were tearing down the wall of emotional control fairly quickly and it was all so delicious to watch, "He is probably making this entire situation up!"

I cocked my head, "If this collar was removed, I could prove to you that the bond is quite real – and no, I have no other wish then to secure my own wellbeing and unfortunately for you my dear, that means that I must protect you at all costs."

"Will no harm come to Padawan Shan?" I was quite surprised to hear Master Vandar ask me that question – he either believed that I hadn't overwhelmed the collar and wouldn't seek to influence Bastila or he was resigning himself to the situation he was in and deal with my actions later. Either way, I knew that I had just triumphed.

I nodded, "I will make sure that she suffers no harm."

"And can you do it without the Force?" Zhar questioned from beside him.

I nodded again – despite the fact that I could touch the Force, I could keep the girl safe without openly using it. Physical training mattered just as much as Force use, I knew how to use vibroblades, blasters, I had made sure be well rounded with all weapons. Besides, a slight nudge to an enemy in the Force would not attract the attention of the Jedi – so yes, I was in the perfect position to protect her either way. The girl would have to get used to it – I would never sever the bond until I was sure that she was beyond my reach and so long as we were bonded, her safety mattered as much as mine did and I, as the Dark Lord of the Sith, would allow no harm to come to her. If I had to do it within the confines of the Jedi, I would do so.

"I can and I will, provided I am allowed to use weapons?" I asked lightly.

Vandar nodded, "You'll have access to all we can provide, except lightsabers."

I smirked inwardly… it wasn't the lightsaber that made the Sith dangerous, it was the Sith that made the Sith dangerous. But outwardly I nodded, and looked to Bastila, "I take it that you and your little friends will not mind my presence?"

Bastila huffed and shook her head, "They will! Why is this necessary?!"

"Must you display stupidity at every turn!" I groaned and rolled my eyes, she had her moments – but otherwise I had pretty much revised my opinion of her. The girl was a top grade idiot – she was a special pawn of the Jedi and nothing more, "If you die or are seriously harmed, I will be seriously wounded both physically and through the Force. Since you insist on being an imbecile and trying to get yourself killed at every turn – I must take it upon myself to protect you from yourself!"

She looked affronted, but Master Vandar stopped her, "And Padawan Shan, keep in mind that if you harm him in any way, or if some tragic accident should befall him – that it will be you who suffers the most, in case you didn't pay attention, you'll-…"

"I know Master," She snapped irritably and nodded, "I'll go mad."

"It would seem that your fates are intertwined and there is nothing we can do about it at this point," Vandar said, possibly not realizing or choosing not to throw the fact that I had set these events into emotions, "I do suggest that until such time that Lord Revan is convinced that he cannot manipulate you, you force yourself to get along with him. It would be advisable to let no harm come to e-…"

I had long tuned him about and reflected on the situation that I found myself in, so Vandar was aware of why I wouldn't break the bond with Bastila – alright. Now I was in a position to secure our mutual safety because the girl wasn't capable of doing it herself. Finally, I was in a closer position to alerting my forces of my location so that they could extract me from this glorified prison. And I would have to accomplish this while still wearing this accursed collar and it momentarily overwhelmed me that I would have to accomplish this without my full connection to the Force. I would have to use all of my cunning to get through this without injury.

"Lord Revan, you will do nothing to endanger her," Vandar commanded me.

I narrowed my eyes but nodded with a touch of sarcasm, "I would  _never_  do that."

* * *

This would be amusing if I were not the victim in this situation.

I had experienced a lot in my relatively short life: I had won a war, I was on the verge of winning another one – I destroyed entire planets, converted legions of Jedi and conquered half of the Galaxy. However, I had never been in this position in recent memory. Probably not since I was a Padawan myself had I been forced into something like this and even then it was tolerable – I had Malak with me. Thanks to the Jedi Council's infant wisdom however, I had been moved from my secure room and now I was sharing a dormitory with Bastila and several other young female Padawans. I felt out of place here to say the least, especially with one of the more peculiar girls that lived with Bastila – the one who would not stop looking at me.

She had already bluntly reminded me that I had slain the previous owner of this bed on my ship a week and a half ago and now, now she was looking at me in utter fascination. I had expected the council to cover my legacy and my reputation in a layer of foreboding and make it clear that I was not be emulated, let alone explored, but this child obviously was ignoring such warnings. Even as I sat cross legged on the bed, trying to center myself, I couldn't quite achieve while I felt the girl's eyes boring into the side of my head – my annoyance grew by the seconds.

"Child – do you have something to ask me? You keep staring at me," I snapped.

She blinked but nodded, "Y-You're really Darth Revan?"

I scoffed inwardly, what a stupid question, but I smiled at her, "In the flesh."

"Do you remember the Battle of Althir III?" She asked me quietly, presumably trying not to attract the attention of her dormitory mates. I nodded and quickly thought back to that battle of the Mandalorian Wars. The Mandalorian's had conquered the planet years before and on that planet – I was still considered a hero for invading and liberating the planet from the Neo-Crusaders, so much so that the planet was loyal to me to this day. It served as a heavily fortified fallback position if they Republic should ever push us back to the Outer Rim, it was a good war trophy.

Besides, their ship and weapon building skills proved useful in pacifying the rest of the sector – it was just one less place I had to worry about, "Are you familiar wit-…"

"My father supplied off world metals to the Althiri," She explained quietly, and I could practically feel the emotions that stirred within her at mentioning it, "My parents were caught on world when the Mandalorian's invaded, we were forced to stay there until the Republic took back the planet. I wish that you had gotten their earlier – because my father was killed two months before I was born by a Mando."

I quietly repressed the fact that the story did tug on my heartstrings and raised an eyebrow, was this Jedi Padawan expressing her gratitude for me invading a world and cutting down hundreds of Mandalorians? She couldn't be more the twenty years old if what she said was true and she was looking at me with a childlike intensity.

"Well, I apologize for the indignities that your family, as well as all of the other families affected by the war had to suffer at the hands of the Mandalorians," I said, picking my words very carefully, "And I think you exposed one of the reasons that I went to war in the first place – but if I may ask, I feel you have an intense resentment of the Mandalorians, why are in this place that prevents your revenge?"

It wasn't so much a manipulative question as it was a genuine question, why would she deprive herself of that? It was an active policy of my empire to exterminate the remains of the remaining clans on sight – she would be a useful asset on that front if she could be bent the proper way. And by the way she reacted to my question, she was not entirely opposed to the idea and that was a very good sign. That quite simply meant that she was pliable and, provided that she kept our conversation to herself, it would not take a lot to make her fall to the Dark Side. It wasn't the indignant anger that Bastila would fall into, or the self-righteous amusement that a Jedi Master would wear, it was as if she just didn't know. She spoke as if this was all she had ever known and she couldn't imagine anything else, "It's all I know."

"The Jedi did not want me to go to war, they would have preferred that half of the Galaxy burned down before they did anything to stop the Mandalorian's advance, in fact, if I were a betting man – I'd say that they'd have not done anything until Mandalore himself had arrived at the Capital," I allowed some the very old irritation at the subject to slip into my voice, "A Jedi's life is tinged with emotional repression and what they call justice, but again, it was not the Jedi Order that liberated Althir."

The seed of doubt had been planted – excellent.

"I-…I will think of-…" She was cut off, but I knew that it would work.

"Do not speak to him Jeral, his words are poison," Bastila snapped from across the room and I grinned inwardly, she and I had not shared a cordial word since the council meeting hours ago. Turing and looking at her and her little group studying, I raised an eyebrow and my lips actually quirked up in utter amusement at the girl.

Had I really been reduced to this? Part of me wanted to mold and turn Bastila into the machine that she could become, part of me just wanted to… well "worship" her and the other half wanted to strangle her for putting me in the position that I was in at the moment. She was so very lucky that she was very attractive and very powerful or I would not be planning her conversion, but her long and painful death.

"I'm simply having a conversation with the young lady, and as much as you may not like it my dear  _Padawan_ ," I stretched out the word and paused on it on purpose to try and point out that the pretentious girl carried the ego of Jedi Master, "I am stuck here with you, and I will not sit in a corner and stare at the wall all day. You can spout your arrogant commands at me all day – but unlike these lovely ladies, I do not have to abide by them. Now what is it that you're studying? I can help you."

The girls look hesitantly towards Bastila and it was very clear to me in that moment that this dormitory operated under a leadership hierarchy with her at the top. The girl was very, very annoying, sure – and she was bigheaded and very unstable, but perhaps she could see that I could a valuable tool in her pursuit of Jedi knowledge.

"Keep in mind my dears," I said, looking at all of them, "I was not always the  _big, bad_ and  _evil_  Dark Lord of the Sith that your beloved Masters make me out to be on a daily basis. I was once a Jedi like you, and I was told that if I had not gone off to war, I was very close to being promoted to the rank of Master. I figure that if we're going to be living together, we should at least try to get along – am I alone in this?"

The girls were silent for a moment, ignoring the glare that Bastila was sending them, and then one of them finally broke from the pack. She was a young Twi'lek girl, she couldn't have been more than eighteen years old and by the lack of lightsaber – I surmised that she was behind in her training. There were so many opportunities for new weapons here, first the girl whose family was Althir and now this girl who was behind. I could complete her training, "We're studying Force Bonds – Master Dorak is interrupting normal lessons with this – it's quite unusual."

I smirked and looked at Bastila, "It's that so?"

She scowled and forced a nod, "Yes – a little too late, but yes."

"As it happens," I said with the biggest smile on my face as I got up from the bed and sat down in an empty chair in their little circle. The irony of this moment didn't escape me, but perhaps it was time that Bastila knew how much control that I really had over the Force. Perhaps it was time she know that I was a Master of all the "I studied uncommon Force Powers when I was a Padawan and I focused my studies on Force Bonds – over the years I mastered the art. Admittedly, I've gone down a darker route and mastered the dark forms of Force Bonds-…"

I chuckled as Bastila bared her teeth at me and then I turned back to the group with a charming smile. By the time I was ready to leave Dantooine, these girls would be putty in my hands, Bastila too, "…but I'm still a master of the forms that Dorak is trying to teach you, or teach you how to avoid… how can I help you?"

And that finally broke the ice between me and the rest of the girls, I could sense that they had been hesitantly curious, but now they weren't hesitant anymore. I could surmise however that Bastila still hated me with a deep passion and it would take more than helping her study to unfreeze her to me, it would take much more.

I began by explaining the more simplistic form of Force Bonds, that of a Master to their Apprentice, I explained how it allowed two Force Sensitive wielders could communicate from massive distances, through hellish battles and even if one of the bond mates was in a comatose state. I didn't tell them that I regarded the Jedi and their bonding methods as weak – I didn't tell them that these bonds typically were so incomplete that they deprived the bonded of their true potential. I didn't tell them or Bastila for that matter that with a bond, I could rip the knowledge out of the minds of those who I had bonded with. They would discover all of that in time.

And by the time I was done, I would teach these young Jedi the true power of the Force – and their little leader would be my apprentice and nothing could stop me.

I smiled at them as they expressed their understanding, this was becoming easy.

 


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan humors the Jedi as he reminisces

I had the benefit of having Zhar Lestin has one of my many masters over the years and even though he possessed the ego and the self-centered nature of a Jedi Master like Vrook, he was different. I knew how he felt about me, he felt as if I was the wayward member of the flock that he never got back – he felt that my fall was his fault. He was foolish and idealistic, but he was perhaps the only Jedi alive that I had a favorable opinion of. He was a fantastic teacher, both with academic knowledge and the art of dueling, but he was simply that, he was one of my many teachers. The title of  _Master_ was a token of sorts, something to soothe his Jedi-ego, the only being in the galaxy that I would call Master and genuinely mean it was Kreia. Of all of my mentors, she was the only one that I would call  _"Master"_  and genuinely mean it. However, Zhar proved to be good company in my imprisonment.

Things had been progressing rather slowly, I had to admit that – but the council had kept their part of the bargain and so I was keeping mine. Sure, they denied me access to even the holonet news, but I had a feeling that my empire was holding its own against the Republic, even in my absence. If things got very bad, then the Dark Jedi on Rakata had implicit instructions to seek out Darth Traya and her apprentices. For now, I was stuck on Dantooine and I was finding it more and more difficult to occupy my time. Bastila and her friends spent most of their time in the library and I, I found myself doing things that I hadn't do since I was a very young, I found myself sparring with Master Zhar on an almost daily basis with Vibroblades.

There was a reason that Master Zhar trained students, he was a master duelist and I had little doubt that if he had been on my flagship, I would not have been able to win the duel with ease. In fact, the more we dueled, the more I realized that without being enhanced with the Force, it was very difficult to duel with him. We had dueled seven times in the past couple of days and I had only won one match out of all of them. It frustrated me to no end and I found myself tapping into the untapped and virtually ignored reserves of calm to fight him. Emotions, particularly those of rage and anger were crucial in fighting with the style of the Sith Lords, but with the Force. Without the Force, those emotions made me make mistakes, with the Force, I usually had an idea of where an enemy's strike would land, but without it, I was making a whole host of mistakes. A misstep and a wrong blow here, an inadequate strike there, I was finding it more and more difficult to remain calm.

"You see your  _true_  fighting potential without the armor of the Force around you in battle, don't you?" He asked me as we sat on one of the side benches cooling down.

I took another drink of the water I had brought and nodded, wiping the sweat off of my forehead, "I never really had to fight without it Master, but yes – it is very disconcerting to see how weak I am without using it, very, very, disconcerting."

If I knew him, which I was fairly confident that I did, I knew that he was holding back from spouting the ideologically driven nonsense straight from the Jedi Code itself. I was having a hard time myself in restraining the urge to point out the Sith belief as well. I personally did not believe the Force was my servant, I respected the Force, but when I wanted to wield it like a weapon – I did not hesitate to do so.

The Jedi had a very black and white view on respect and use of the Force and due to my personal belief, I would be labeled as a Sith regardless if I felt I was one or not. I believed in the Dark Side of the Force, I believed that ruthless aggression was the only way to counter ruthless aggression – and I believed that unstoppable power was the only way to cure the galaxy's ills. I did not fall to the Dark Side of the Force for bloodlust like Master Vrook like to frequently assume, I fell for a reason, but they would never understand that and I would never tell them that. It was simply easier to think of things in black and white, for all us it would seem. I, however, would never really stop examining things for what they actually were.

"Would you like to fight me without the collar?" Zhar asked me suddenly.

I couldn't contain my disbelief in time and as a result I turned and looked at him as if he was the craziest being on this planet. I had to question his "wisdom" for a quite a few seconds… I was Lord of the Sith, I was capable of quite a lot and if they restored my full connection to the Force, I had no doubt that I could kill him and everyone in this enclave if I wanted to with a simple movement of my wrist. And then I wondered what other possible motives he could have for offering me such tempting bait. Was it a test? In regards to those sort of things, Kreia and him were very much alike, preferring to teach just as much through example as they were through actual academics and exercises. Was he testing what I would do once he deactivated the collar? Did he want to assess whether or not I would strangle him?

I decided to assume the later, because frankly no one trusted me in this enclave, not that much anyway. But it appeared the my old master was wanting to test my ability to resist such a strong temptation – and I would give him an answer that might shook and secretly anger Master Vrook, "No Master – I can take you on."

He smiled at me and I returned it with one of my own – I had known him since I was a little boy and I had gotten along with him more than any of the others, Kreia excluded. He trained me for a time, taught me how to duel, we knew how each other thought – well at least I knew how he thought. I had changed a great deal, but at the core, I was still the same child who would come to him and seek knowledge, "Are you ready? Or I have depleted the energy of the Lord of the Sith?"

My eyes steeled and I gripped the handle of the blade, "Not even close."

* * *

I knew that he inspired the same baser instincts in my friends as he did in me whenever we watched him spar with Master Zhar. We were not entirely unfamiliar with hormones and attraction, and I knew those feelings well enough to know that I was feeling a heavy physical attraction towards him. That was the extent of it, I didn't care for Darth Revan as a person, but he was incredibly attractive and that was the only remotely redeeming thing about him. The way the sweat glistened off of hi gloriously tanned skin, the way the muscles flexed as he blocked a strike from Master Zhar, I found myself leaning forward on the bench and biting my lip. It was unnerving and even as I tried to force myself to recite the code, I found couldn't do it. It took him actually noticing me staring at him for me to break out of my lust-induced daze. I was a Jedi! Such things were below me and I should control it!

But when he grinned at me, I shivered as promptly realized I had a big problem.

"My dear," He said, approaching me as Master Zhar went in the opposite direction, and I had to hold in a physical reaction as he stood in front of me in all of his muscled, sweaty-… by the Force, "You seem to be staring at something, what is it?"

Forcing my eyes from his deeply defined and muscled bare chest, I looked back up to his eyes and glared daggers I into them. I was beginning to regret not killing him when I had the chance to do so. I was beginning to regret even being born for that matter – because if I hadn't been "graced" with the gift of Battle Meditation, I wouldn't have been selected to board his ship, he wouldn't have wormed his way into my mind and I wouldn't be sitting here, rolling around in my extreme attraction to a Sith Lord. The worst part of it? By the glint in his eyes, I knew that he knew almost exactly what was I thinking about and that just made me burn with rage. He was already arrogant and egotistical, the last thing I needed was for him to me smug about this. But it was too late and now I had yet another reason to hate him.

"No," I began, recovering well enough to sound rather disinterested and sarcastic, just how I wanted to sound, "I merely observing that for such a legendary warrior, you seem to be having a difficultly defeating a simply, lowly, egotistical Master."

He chuckled and I almost pulled away as he leaned down to my ear, and ignoring the fluttering that was now running through me at the feel of his breath against my neck, he finally spoke, "Without the Force, I usually have to take my time in completing a task – by the look of you, you'd like to know what I can do without it."

I could feel the blush staining my cheeks as the real meaning of what he meant hit me and I quickly forced myself recover, "You are the most egotistical, fatheaded, idiotic male that I have ever had the misfortune to know and if I had one reque-…"

"What would that one request be my dear? That you'd me to sleep with you? Since you so obviously want that, or would you want to kill me?" He chuckled again as he sat down next to me on the bench and my blood began to boil again, "Either way, it sorely lacks in all of that tranquility, balance and selflessness that your masters have taught you to uphold. But enough of that, you've come for something, what?"

I blinked at the abrupt redirection and refocused my thoughts, "Well-…I eh…"

"Oh will you spit it out!" He snapped at me impatiently.

"The masters have decided that to calm myself, I need to meditate within an intense nexus of the Force," I answered, suddenly very nervous about this entire situation, "The only place that is even remotely alike to a nexus on this planet i-…"

"Is the lightsaber crystal cave on the plains," He finished for me, nodding.

"Will you stop finish my sentences!" I snapped loudly at him.

He shook his head and smiled at me innocently, "No."

"And why not?!" I was indignant at this point – it was as if he thought I was stupid.

"Because you're an idiot," He answered with another smile and I glowered inwardly, so he did think I was stupid, "I had to do the same thing several times in my time on this planet and you can achieve the same type of calm and balance in the plains themselves. It would be better than running into a big swarm of Kinrath adults."

He had a point, but that still didn't explain how I could do it, "The caves have a strong concentration of pure light energy, it's either there, or this place, not th-…"

"You _are_ an idiot," He shook his head in disbelief and ran his hand through his hair and turned to look back at me, "Either you or your master in any case – you don't need to sit in a cave swarming with Kinrath or the enclave – if you center yourself just enough and feel the heart of this planet, the life ebbing around you, you calm yourself. Whoever your first crèche master was, he or she was terribly inadequate."

I blinked at him, "Y-you're crèche master taught you this?"

"Oh yes," He nodded with a laugh, "It has been valuable over the years."

And it was strange, he seemed almost human.

* * *

Things had been tense in the three weeks that Revan had been gone, some of the Dark Jedi believed that the Dark Lord was dead, and with Malak dead that it was their right to ascended to the head of the empire. They were summarily executed by their fiercely loyal peers who firmly believed that Revan had been kidnapped by the Jedi. As for the military, Admiral Varrow had assumed command of the Admiralty and the fleet, while Admiral Karath had assumed control of ground forces in the interim. The inward thrusts to the core were stopped, advances were halted and the individual task forces and detachments were given orders to fortify whatever sector of space or planet they occupied and prepare for the Republic's doubtless reprisal. They were handling things, but nerves were becoming frayed.

"We have ten thousand ships in reserve," Vice-Admiral Cral, the newest and youngest addition to the Admiralty Corp said as he pounded his clenched fist on the table, "We have millions of troops in reserve, we should fortify the weak links, and if this council will not approve of the action, then I will ignore it and order my-…"

"You will do no such thing," Varrow responded to him, his voice cool with the underlying tone of annoyance and boredom, "If you do, I will not hesitate to have you executed – all of us are aware that Lord Revan always has clear instructions for situations like this. In the event of his death, incapacitation or if he is unable to lead in any form or fashion, then command falls to the Head of the Fleet and the Head of the Military. Lord Revan is missing and since Lord Malak attempted to kill Lord Revan and Lord Revan promptly killed him, those titles are now invested in Admiral Karath and myself. This council is rendered invalid until such time Lord Revan returns or there is a successor that emerges – our orders stand Admiral."

He made a motion with his fingers to one of the Dark Jedi lining the wall and when he walked forward to stand directly behind Cral, the heavily shrouded man activated his crimson lightsaber and held it directly at the cowering man's throat.

It was a simple matter of falling in line or else, they were not in dire straits at this point, but without a clear leader, they would be. Order needed to be kept until Lord Revan's fate was clear – reorganization could take place after that was discovered, but until then, they would fall in line or die. Looking across the rectangular briefing table at Karath, he nodded once at his imperceptible approval of his blunt threat to Cral and then looked back to Cral himself, "Now, understand this, any show of disloyalty will be met with overwhelming response – until we can find out what happened to Lord Revan, we need to keep order and one way or the other, we will."

Cral lowered his head and nodded, "I understand –  _sir_."

"Good," He nodded at the Dark Jedi, who deactivated his lightsaber and returned to his previous position at the wall. Varrow knew that they too had trouble within their ranks, but the overwhelming majority of them were staying in line and destroying all disloyalty. They did understand its importance right now, "Next briefing please?"

* * *

Master Vrook was right about one thing.

I did enjoy the baser things, such as hunting – it had always been a secret pastime of mine, and as I circled around the deeply meditating Bastila, shooting any unfortunate Kath Hounds that got close to my blaster rifle, I began to enjoy it even more. It was not often that I used such crude weapons when I had the Force, I could snap the neck the largest and most dangerous being with a flick of my fingers and therefore I had no need of them. I really didn't have need of my lightsabers either when I thought about it that way, but I enjoyed the movement. Sometimes it simply just became tedious killing something so easily – I preferred challenge. But if I had to go through the rest of my life without my lightsabers and simply relying on my strength in the Force, I would do so. But this was one of those moments where I didn't care, three blasts, one to the neck and one the hind legs and it was over. It seemed that Dantooine was proving to bring the Sith out in me quite well.

"You seem to be getting sick amusement off such a thing," Bastila broke the quiet with her arrogant pronouncement and I spun back around to face her, looking up at me with those doe eyes of hers. Such a beautiful and powerful girl, it was stunning.

"Would you prefer that the Kath Hounds maul you?" I asked her lightly.

She scowled but shook her head, "No."

"Then shut up and let me have my fun," I said, turning around to resume my watch for another one of the hulking hounds, "Have you found success in your attempts."

"Yes," She nodded, but then she tensed, "But I can't hold onto it for very long."

"You are strong in the Force, but you lack the purity of willpower to control it," I sighed and shook my head, "It's such a waste of your true talents that you deny yourself control over your will. With strong will, your beauty and your powers would allow you to conquer worlds. But instead you relegate yourself to being a pawn."

She shook her head, "And what else would I be?  _Your_  pawn?"

"Perhaps," I answered quietly and slowly, choosing my tone and my response very, very carefully at this point, "But then again, you could be a queen with your power and your ability, the right hands you could make the Galaxy bow down to you in worship. But then again, that doesn't appeal to you, does it? You're like me then."

I scowled at her snort, "You love that some cultures worship you like a god."

No – I did not, what she didn't know was that inwardly I was uncomfortable with that sort of thing. It was another case of this image that the Grand Council on Coruscant had built around me after I left. I simply knew how not to waste a potential resource, "No, you're wrong, I don't do the things I do to be worshiped and I do not stop the worship because I like to be worshiped. I see the practice as a means to an end, your first lesson from is that you never waste a potential asset."

Bastila seemed to misunderstand my intentions for her, I did not intent for her to be any normal "pawn" – I did not want her to be a simple Dark Jedi that was only a marginal threat. I intended to train her to be my right hand, I intended her to have power that was second only to my own – and I intended on keeping her under my thumb until such time that I could no longer lead. I would not repeat the mistakes that I made with Malak and she didn't seem to understand that what Malak became and what I intended for her were two different things. But regardless, she simply scoffed and returned to her task and it left me with me alone with my thoughts. It had been  _difficult_ to return to these plains, I hadn't been back here in quite a while.

* * *

I was angry, so very angry with the situation that I found myself in.

Malak and I had tracked down the first map to this region, but the texts were incomplete and I knew, I just knew that it had to be in one of two places, this cave or those ruins near the enclave. I still didn't understand why I didn't choose the ruins, but that didn't matter now. All that mattered was that I was trapped in the cave and the rock barrier that I had created with the Force was barely adequate to keep the Kinrath at bay. I had to have paced for a solid ten minutes for finally giving into my frustration, I would either have to expose myself as an initiate of the Dark Side and kill these… things, or I could bring the ceiling down and I was running the risk of being crushed to death or creating a bigger trap for myself.

And the choice of being killed or being exposed was just a risk that I would have to take – I was here against the wishes of the Jedi as it was, so in a way it did not matter, they had already formed their opinions of me. That's how I found myself kneeling behind the wall of rock, reaching out in the Force to envelope the cave in my presence. It was difficult to hold my concentration on this many life forms for extended periods of time, but as I kneeled there, trying, I found that it was becoming easier by the moments. It was more difficult for fully-sentient beings, but these mindless creatures, they were easy and I smiled as my hold on them in the Force was solidified. And with a final exertion of the Force, I snapped the "lives" of all of the Kinrath in the cave, simultaneously and the simultaneous death scream that was let out by them was almost deafening. It would have been if I had not been reeling from the thick inundation of the Dark Side that rushed all over me.

I was inebriated on the power of the Dark Side and I shivered at the feel of the raw, intense power that was just bursting to manifest itself around me. And when I could feel the cave devoid of the life of the Kinrath, I extended my hand and grunted the pure exertion of energy that blew the rock cover away. This would be the last time that I ever entered this cave – I was sure of that, the council would not allow me to enter it and further corrupt their precisions focusing crystals. But it did not matter at all, I was done with the Jedi and Dantooine, I didn't need them.

I reached for the comlink of my belt, "Malak – have you broken through the lock?"

"Yes Master," I smiled – I would never grow tired of hearing him call me that, "I took quite a while and waiting inside of me where some surprises, but I've handled them. There is a door to a back chamber here that still refuses to open for me…"

I scowled behind my mask, "Keep trying to unlock it – I'm on my way."

"Did you find anything in the caves?" He asked lightly.

"No," I smirked as I neared the exit of the cave, "But I did create a little mess."

That was an understatement to say the least as I avoided stepping on the Kinrath carcasses that littered the grounds of the cave. The Jedi fools would never ever truly cleanse the Dark Side from these crystal caves, "…but someone else can clean it up, I should inform the council that it's my little going away present for them…"

"Is that wise? Are we simply going to burn all of our bridges?" Malak replied.

"It's too late, if they didn't expel us in the first place, they'll do it now," I said.

* * *

A part of me would always regret what I did to Malak, he was my best friend, for years he was my only friend. It had always been something of a battle between my need to honor our friendship and establish something of a control over him. I knew that he had always felt inadequate to me and though honestly he was, I tried not to make it obvious. I tried to balance our friendship through everything and it had worked until the events that took place and that eventually destroyed the planet of Telos. I had no qualms with the act itself, but it was the fact that he had so easily disobeyed my direct orders. I had intended on conquering Telos and using it as naval hub for the sector and the surrounding ones. I had ripped his jaw off of his skull with my bare hands for the show of defiance, but it was still the hardest thing that I ever had to do. I think it was safe to say that our friendship ended in orbit of the destroyed planet, and as much as I regretted the action, it had to be done.

I could still see the blood that covered the gauntlets that I wore – I still heard his wild, surprised and betrayed scream and the image of him on the deck, lying in a pool of his own blood would stay with me until the day that I died. The Sith in me was amused at worst and indifferent at best to his suffering, but the man who had been his friend that was still very much inside of me would always feel guilty. And as much as I didn't want to do it, I found myself whispering yet another silent for him. I knew that I caused him insurmountable pain, and I hoped he'd found peace.

And before I had the chance to dwell on that thought any longer, I closed my mind off and returned my attention to the present. It was unbecoming of a Lord of the Sith to think that way, I couldn't afford to think of Malak if I was always going to be torn. Part of me wanted him to burn for all eternity and the other wanted him to find the peace that he never had in his turbulent life. I was here and he was not, he was dead and I was very much alive and I needed to stay that way, dwelling on the painful memories of the past would not help. So I shook my head again in irritation and continued to monitor the perimeter good – it looked like they got the message.

"Why did you fall to the Dark Side of the Force?" She asked me softly, breaking the quietness that had fallen between us again and for the first time since I had met her, she actually had something that stumped me and because of that, I didn't respond at first. I was quickly and quietly debating on what I could respond with.

"You've studied the histories of the order Bastila – you know that no Jedi falls to the Dark Side without a reason," I replied absently, again I was weighing my words and my tone very carefully, "For whatever reason, be it power, blood lust or something else entirely – I had my reasons, and it was not for power or for blood and that has always been something that the Jedi never understood and never will understand…"

And it was true, the only being that really understood why I had done the things that I had did was Malak, and even he had forgotten that in the end. The Jedi and the Sith had a very narrow definition of right and wrong and they were polar opposites of each other. Neither side would be willing to admit that there was a gray area, and if my true beliefs were understood, I would either be incredibly weak or I would incredibly evil. I knew that and because of that, it seemed a futile exercise for me to debate my place in the galaxy and in the Force as a whole. If the Jedi offered the kind of power that I sought to use, then I would have remained a Jedi, but the Sith and the Dark Side only offered it and that's what defined my place. I was in a galaxy that was so fantastically biased and prejudiced against anyone who threatened their conception of right and wrong and I seemed to be the only one who realized this. It proved to be a hard position to take, but I had taken all of it, "…they can never have the chance to understand if you don't tell them."

"You're so very naïve my dear," I replied quietly, flashes of memories of the past few years and years before that, of moments when the Jedi seemed so ignorant and arrogant at the same time, "You live in your own little world, and you have your own idea of what is right and what is wrong, even if I told you my reasons you would form your own opinions and you will still fail to understand my reasoning. So believe me when I tell you this: I did "fall" for a reason and it was a rational one."

"Will you ever tell me?" She asked me, much to my surprise.

I lowered the rifled, turned and scowled down at her – I would never reveal any of my secrets to her until I knew she was not going to go back to the masters and tell all. I spoke to her in a tone that commanded respect and reeked of complete and total finality on this subject – and it would be, I would take pains to see that promise kept. The first part of her conversion was to make her see all things my way, "When you kneel to me as my apprentice, and not a moment sooner my dear."

 


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan plants the seeds of temptation while managing to indulge his baser instincts

I really did not like to admit when I was wrong, I never had, but as the days went on and on, it was becoming harder and harder to deny a simple fact: Dantooine was having an effect on me. It wasn't driving me stark raving mad with boredom as I had originally thought it would, quite the opposite really, it was  _calming_  me. I had been using the Force for as long as I could remember and in all of that time, I could never remember an instance when I purposely meditated to center myself and become calm. For as long as I could remember, I treated the tool of meditation as a means to an academic or a strategically planned end, but it hadn't been that way with my stay on this planet. I was finding peace when I meditated in the main courtyard of the enclave or on the gentle plains of Kahoonda, and it was unsettling to say the least. Even when I studied here as a Jedi, I had never found it all that peaceful, in fact I found it mind-numbingly boring, but as a Sith Lord, it was very different. This strange effect had driven me to the archives, to try and search for an answer, anything to explain why this was occurring. I needed a reason that was academic – something that wasn't the explanation Zhar was giving me. I had utterly refused to accept or believe that basking in the power of the light was redeeming me in some absurd way – the Force itself was not that black and white.

I had learned long ago that it was not and I knew better than to believe that just because some Jedi Master told me so, and when I pointed this out to Zhar, he politely asked me why and that had led to an entire philosophical debate. To say that I had wanted to debate him would be a lie – but to say that it hadn't been useful would also be a lie. I quickly and very purposely let it slip that I wasn't the conventional Sith Lord. I wanted him to know that I wasn't Malak, I did not believe that abject fear was the proper way to approach things. I truly believed that enslaving someone to follow you wasn't the right thing to do, you had to make them believe it, you had to convince them – and that fact alone made me unique among my historical predecessors. I couldn't use the Force to see if my words had the effect that I wished – but I had a strong suspicion that they had worked and that would prove useful in the future, an ally on the Jedi Council went a long way.

Reading each word of this particular document that I had selected, I stretched back in the chair and took a moment to look around the empty archives. Zhar had convinced Dorak to allow me private use of the Archives – and thankfully it had worked like a charm. I wouldn't be able to study with some pompous Jedi Master glaring at me and standing over my shoulder the entire time, I had to find an answer and a lecture wouldn't work. So when a chime on the locked door sounded, I did a double take and watched as it slid open to reveal  _Bastila_. Sitting up straighter in the chair, I rested elbows on the table and steepled my fingers before putting a smirk on my face. It seemed my little Jedi Padawan was purposely seeking me out – perhaps she was not as resistant to me as she indignantly proclaimed to be. I watched as she reached over to the pad and reengaged the locking mechanism and set off in my direction, and that led to the obvious question.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but when I was a student here, I wasn't allowed in the archives, they were restricted to masters – and you, my dear, are not a master," I said wryly as she came up to me and took the chair that was directly opposite me.

She rolled her eyes, "You are not a master either."

"I have the qualifications of one," I smiled, putting a touch of condescension into my voice – I knew this was just our banter, but I wanted her to know that I was superior, "As well as my significantly superior qualifications as Dark Lord…"

She snorted softly and shook her head, "Master Zhar asked me to come down here and help you – he granted me special dispensation to be in here as long as you are with me. He says that you are having something of an existential crisis, and for some reason, he seems to think that I can help you – so, can I help you today?"

I blinked for a moment, looking down at the document reader and then a smile came to my face before I shook my head, "I'm afraid that you don't possess the knowledge, the intellect, the skill, the philosophical openness or understanding to assist me my dear. But if you want help me, just sit there and look beautiful."

Her blush was my reward and when I chuckled at resumed my reading, I could feel her eyes study me carefully. I resisted the urge to smirk again, let her study me – let her be curious about me, all the better for me when she finally gave into me and became mine. But when a particular passage in the document, the journals of Master Nomi Sunrider that covered the engagement with Ulic Qel-Droma, caught my attention – I lowered my head even further and peered at the words. These were the personal logs of the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and if I was reading them correctly, it would appear that the ever exalted Master Sunrider had a romantic attachment to Qel-Droma. I almost wanted to laugh in triumph at the hypocrisy that the woman once drilled into me. In the year before the start of the war with the Mandalorians, Sunrider had called me back to Coruscant to constantly teach me in the mechanics of being a proper Jedi, and now it appeared that she herself had issues being a "proper" Jedi.

"What are you reading?" Bastila asked me quietly.

"The personal journals of Grand Master Sunrider," I answered her, not looking up.

I didn't need to see her face to know that she was surprised, "Y-you can do that?"

I looked up to her and smiled mischievously, "Master Sunrider is somewhat lax when it comes to upgrading the security around her personal database. Let's just say that I once grew good at slicing into places that people didn't want me to be."

She was looking at me with a mixture of respect for my accomplishment and the indignation over what I had done. Shaking my head and laughing quietly, I returned my attention back to the document and I became far more engrossed in it then I had before. I had just run into the passage that I had wanted to find and it was quite an interesting one. It was the one that covered Qel-Droma's redemption – and as I read through it a few more times my heart began to sink. After spending the day reading through the order's accounts of all known redeemed Jedi, they all came to a similar conclusion. It was something that I would never admit to – but it was something that I silently knew, the Light Side of the Force was drawing me in.

Slowly, but ever so surely – it would reverse the effects of the past twenty years.

And I would be cut off from everything that I had come to depend upon, my anger, my rage, my drive, my aggression – everything would be undone if I remained here any longer. Sitting there at the console, making a point of ignoring Bastila, I formulated three options in my head: fight through an entire enclave of Jedi and making my escape, increase my usage of the Force to channel my hate and aggression and kill something or a combination of all three. Tapping my fingers against the console, I snapped my eyes up to Bastila and glared at her, I knew that emotions were in full swing and at this point – I didn't care, "I bet you are enjoying this little Jedi, I bet you and your little friends are quite amused to have me living among you, like a restrained beast, a circus animal that does tricks to entertain."

She blinked in confusion and I sneered at her, "You are so very lucky that you are useful to me my dear, if there wasn't a wonderfully infinite amount of power lying dormant under all of that ineptitude and mediocrity, I would crush your throat."

"A-are you alright?" She was looking at me obvious fear from my dark words.

Letting out a shuttering breath, I shook my head and stood up – I needed to unleash this anger, far from the Jedi, "No – I need to calm myself if I'm going to make for civilized company – I think I'll take a walk on the plains and meditate."

She blinked at me again – damn her idiocy, "This late at night?!"

"I've survived worse," I snapped at her, really wanting to get out of there – but then a thought occurred to me and I reluctantly smirked, "You sound like you care."

She scowled at me, "I don't care about you."

I snorted stood up and straightened out the accursed and very uncomfortable tunic they gave me, "Try not to fall down and smack your head on the ground Bastila."

* * *

It was approaching a standard month since I was captured by the Jedi and this was the result – I wasn't threatening them with a very painful death at every turn like they expected, and I wasn't refusing to talk. In fact, I would even admit that I had been more than friendly with most of them. However, did they ever wonder why that was? Did they understand that my patience was a fleeting thing and that I needed to blow off steam every now and then? Apparently they hadn't and that's why I had taken to these nighttime "walks" to calm myself. I knew that eventually I would have to stop this, eventually one of those blasted fools would be brave enough to follow me and they would see what I did when they all slept. But for now, now when I was several kilometers away from the enclave and way from the oppressive eyes of the Jedi Masters, I could exercise my emotions and my power.

Crouching behind a rock, I held the neural disruptor in my right hand and planned my attack – anything to quell the angry beast that roared in my chest. It demanded blood, it demanded that I lash out and destroy these fools and it demanded that I utterly destroy the Jedi while I had the chance. But I had to suppress that last one, there would come a time and a place for that and I would not do it until the time was right. So with every ounce of willpower I had, I quashed the last urge and redirected all of myself into the task of destroying these men. It wasn't like anyone was going to miss them anyway, a whole camp of Mandalorian mercenaries that terrorized the settlers? The only thing that people would be shocked over was the brutality of their deaths. They were the perfect targets, Mercenaries always were.

There were five of them, all of them Mandalorians – two of them were curled up out of their armor and sleeping in their rolls. Three of them were sitting around a campfire, their helmets off, drinking obviously and the pathetic fools were singing… and they were singing battle songs in Mandoa. I had sliced through enough Mandalorians in my time to know the language – and to this day, the very sound of it made long standing hatred burn into me. The Mandalorians were arrogant, sanctimonious killers and just like then, I had no qualms of carving them up and leaving them to be gnawed on by the Kath Hounds. Blind killing had its cruel moments to be sure, but I had seen even crueler things from these beings. I had seen them put blaster bolts in the heads of children, elderly people and pregnant women for simply denying them anything. Some of them were useful, some of them even had redeeming qualities, but regardless of those few people, it was a standing future plan within my empire that when I finished off the Republic and the Jedi – I would be turning my attention to the remnants of the Mandalorian clans.

My weapons researchers were working on various, slow and very painful methods of remedying a mistake that I made during my war with the Mandalorians. Years ago I had the chance of annihilating the clans and leveling the Mandalore System – Malachor V had pretty much decimated them as a major galactic power. But the only thing that held me back at that point, once I had already begun to embrace the power of the Dark Side, was the fact that the Republic was not strong enough to do the job. The political side of things was inconsequential at the time, the public was for a general occupation of Mandalore – we just didn't have the numbers or the resources. But now I did – and this time, I wouldn't just occupy it – I would destroy it. There were two divisions of weapons researchers working towards that goal, biological and conventional weapon researchers, I would ultimately unleash both.

My bitterness and resentment of the foolish race was strong – but when I let my eyes drift over one of them, I discovered something most useful and my inner-thoughts evaporated. That was a lightsaber on his belt and I felt almost giddy with anticipation – it had been quite a while since I had held one in my hands and even thought it was most definitely a Jedi's weapon, it would still feel the same and it would still kill the same. Smirking, I stretched out with the Force and telekinetically ripped it from the fool's belt, to them it would have simply disappeared into the dark and because my position wasn't immediately given away, I'd have fun first.

"Who is there? Who are you? Show yourself!" One of them shouted in Mandoa.

I smiled mischievously, sinking down to my knees, under the assumption that they wouldn't move – I would be safe behind the rock outcropping. Using the Force, I stretched out and touched their minds – and exerting a fair amount of Force, I penetrated their minds and spoke to them. Their fear was palpable and delicious.

" _I am death…_ " My voice whispered menacingly in their minds.


	6. Chapter Six

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan's Sith Empire feels the pain of it's masters loss as the aforementioned Master sees his first chance at escape.

Admiral Davin Ketral had been with Revan when the Republic invaded the planet to take it back from the Mandalorian occupiers all those years ago – and he was with Darth Revan when they took the planet and entire sector from the Republic only a few years after that. Both engagements had been overwhelming, resulting in heavy ship loses on both sides of the respective conflicts. The first battle had resulted in the Mandalorian withdrawal from the system and the second battle, sometime later, had resulted in almost total loss of the Republic fleet protecting the Glythe Sector. The older human male narrowed his eyes as he looked at his enemy through the viewport and as one of the command officers reported back the final number of the enemy fleet – his lip curled in frustration. They were outnumbered three to one – an oversight that didn't happen very often with these types of very important systems, and he couldn't help but wonder how they knew of the vulnerability. The number of ships protecting the sector grew and fell regularly and most of the time, there would be more than enough ships to protect the entire sector from the Republic fleet – but with Lord Revan's death or capture – whichever one it happened to be, the 'spare' ships had been recalled to protect key systems in the Empire and it left the systems with lesser importance to fend for themselves. This system had been judged to be less important and so it saw a decrease in ships.

"Launch all fighter squadrons," Ketral ordered, knowing that the odds of coming out of this battle with control of the system were very small, "Bring up the destroyers and have them engage those Forary-class attack ships."

"Sir," Capitan Yulan Terrik stepped forward to whisper in his ear, "We don't have enough ships to engage them, wouldn't the more prudent course of action involve retreat to the medical and re-supply station and hold out there for reinforcements?"

Ketral turned to him and scowled, "The nearest reinforcements are at least a standard day away – if we do that – they'll destroy us and take the station."

"Alright," Terrik nodded and for a moment, the Twi'lek subordinate seemed to think for a follow up suggestion, "If I may sir, it is highly unlikely that we'll survive this – so I recommend that we send some ships to completely obliterate the station."

Ketral's lip curled in distaste, he did not enjoy hearing those words and if the odds of winning this battle were even slightly better for them, he might have had the alien thrown right into the deepest hole that he could find, but he could not possibly argue with the logic of his subordinate at this point. There were enough medical supplies on the station alone to tip the balance of the war in the Republic's favor and that was something that could not be allowed to happen. He would've preferred to salvage the medical supplies and try to evacuate as many injured soldiers that he could, but there was not enough time to do that anymore. Snapping his head back to Captain Terrik, Ketral scowled, "I want you to take command of the Venture, and I want you to take a detachment of three interdictors – save what you can from the station, but do not, under any circumstances, allow the Republic to capture it, if by some chance you can save the injured and salvage the equipment, but if-…"

"Destroy the station, if I can't do it," He finished for his commanding officer.

"Good," Ketral nodded once and turned his attention back to the battle, "Dismissed."

* * *

Iridonia had changed hands several times since the war had begun, and considering that it was within striking distance of several very important hyperspace lanes between the Outer and Inner Rims – I wanted that to stop and I wanted it firmly with my hands. We had always had varying degree of successes when fending off attempted Republic attempts to take the planet back. The worst instance of all of them was when we had first taken the planet, because at the exact time we had begun the invasion of Iridonia when the Republican Navy still had firm control of over half of the system. Now, it seemed – in the midst of my captivity, the Republic had grown bold enough to try and take, not only Iridonia itself, but the entire system back and what angered me the most was that it had happened and there was nothing that I could do about it. I couldn't blame them really, Darth Traya and her beast apprentices were still on Malachor – Malak was dead and I was being held hostage, so if I were them, I'd do make an attempt to do so, but that did not lessen my anger at all and presuming that Admiral Varrow was responsible for the order to retreat from Iridonia, I knew who would die first. If the system fell, the entire sector would be next and that could not be allowed to happen. In the confines of the communications center, under Bastila's strict supervision, I sat fuming as the reports of Iridonia's fall continued to come in from the news service and when the news services reported something new, I saw dark red.

The Pugal System, not that far from the Iridonia System, was a  _very_  strategically important system for the Glythe Sector and to take it a step further, for the entire Navy in the Mid Rim. It was home to the fleet that was stationed there to specifically keep the Iridonia system under our control, but it was also one of five very important systems that served as a resupply, repair and rotating center for cruisers, fighters and their personal. If the Republic destroyed the fleet and the very important centers there, it would be devastating to the solvency of our control of the rim and it could signal the fall of the surrounding twenty five sectors, and that was over one thousand two hundred star systems. If this news source could be trusted, then a massive Republic fleet was now heading for the Pugal System and I had no way of knowing if the system was properly protected. I wanted to kill something, or at the very least give something life threatening injuries. The anger was so white hot that I didn't even hesitate as I let out a loud yell and drove my unprotected fist through the screen of the computer. Yanking it back, ignoring the sharp spikes of searing pain from my bloodied hand, all I could comprehend was unimaginable anger.

"Are you insane?" I felt Bastila at my side in a moment as she picked up my arm to observe it, "Let me take you to the infirmary."

I had to resist the urge to reach out with my uninjured hand and wrap it around her throat, and even then, I brought my blooded hand up to give her some indication to shut up and I couldn't resist curling my fingers, "Shut up – I'll go myself."

Getting up and ignoring the fact that all eyes in the room were on me and the fact that my hand was dripping blood – I held my head up high and strode out of the room confidently. This could not be allowed to continue, I could not remain here for much longer and expect to have something to go back to when all was said and done. As I stepped out into the main corridor of the level, still painfully aware of all of the eyes on me, I calculated that I had three options at this point and I was so angry that they were all very tempting. I could remove the collar quite easily, steal a lightsaber, head to the settlement and escape the planet before anyone knew I was gone – I could remove the collar, disguise myself, head into the settlement and send a private message to my forces – alert them to my position and order them to bring the full force of my armed forces against this planet and its inhabitants, or I could do the same thing, but send a message to Malachor V and bring Traya out of hiding to assume the leadership position until I was ready to leave. The last option was the one that carried the most risks – not for the fact that there would be an established leader, but for the apprentices that Traya would bring with her to the position. The new apprentices she had, the ones that she called Sion and Nihilus, they concerned me, not because of their appearances or for their utter ruthlessness, but for the power they showed and for their very unrestrained practice of it.

Sion was simply was a threat that would take a great deal of effort to handle, but the other one – the ghost – the power that he possessed was very dangerous, not only to the Jedi, or me – but to every living thing in the Galaxy.

My suspicions about him had only grown stronger as the time had passed and if he ever broke out of control, then I would even come to the Jedi with help of destroying him, I was fairly certain that I could not destroy him myself, but I would never admit to that. Snarling at a wide eyed teenager as he and his friend crossed my path – I used my uninjured hand to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on my forehead as I turned the corner and continued to walk further down to the corridor to the infirmary on this level. Much worse had happened to me before, I'd put my hands through worse things and to be honest – even without the Force, the pain in my hand didn't bother me at all, but without utilizing the Force, I could not control the ensuing infection or the paint that would eventually get to me. So when I arrived at the infirmary door, I just stood there and took a deep breath in – I was not looking forward to coming here, it reminded me of the days when I would frequent this place as an accident prone child, regardless of broken bones, training wounds, I'd always end up right here. Master Brant, the kindly healer had become a regular sight to me and she was one of the few Jedi that was deeply fond of, and knowing that she was going to be behind that door, I steeled myself for the lecture that she would give me on my anger, and my fall, and my actions, and above all of being a foolish, impetuous child, who turned into an impulsive and impetuous Sith Lord.

Pressing the opening button on the panel, I carefully placed my injured hand behind my back and put my best smile on my face as the doors slid open.

* * *

"Foolish boy," Master Brant admonished me as she began to pull the bacta patches off of my hand.

Admittedly, I had been accident prone as a child and more often than not, I had found myself in this room – on the receiving end of Madam Brant's lectures of safety and carefulness. To be honest, I was so busy holding back my annoyance and my very begrudging amusement that I almost had forgotten that the entire Glythe Sector had fallen or was in the process of falling. Smothering down an annoyed expression, I smiled patiently at the old woman and shook my head – I was no longer a child, I had fought and killed things that she wouldn't have been able to even fathom. I had mastered both sides of the Force and I exercised it as if the Force itself were my hands – I was no longer that child that would skin his knee or be cut and bruised by a training accident and it only served to further my belief that the Jedi were as stubborn and dogmatic as animals. When she pulled the last patch off of my hand, I flexed it tentatively and smiled in reluctant fondness, she'd always been able to heal my injuries with such speed and care that it eclipsed the skills of even the greatest healers on Coruscant and I had to admit that being in this position brought me back to those days, no matter how much I really wanted them gone.

"Thank you Master, impeccable as always," I smiled warmly at her, as I pulled myself off of the bed, "But now I must receive a lecture from the Council on damaging their equipment and I cannot be late for that."

"Sit," She ordered and just as it was when I was young, I obeyed her without question, "The Council is aware of your situation and they want a report – why did you put your hand through the screen?"

"I was angry and seeing as I can't use the Force, I needed an outlet to let that anger out or I might have started running amuck, killing everyone with my bare hands," I replied dryly, trying my best to not flinch under her gaze.

She put hands on her hips and gave me a reproachful look, "You may not be a Jedi anymore – but I would think that you'd have remembered that you're not leaving this room until you tell me what upset you so badly."

I held back a sneer as I remembered that she was very correct – as the head healer for the whole enclave, she was responsible for a highly detailed report on every injured person in the building at that time. I hadn't been a Jedi for a very long time and it had been even longer since I felt myself shrink under the glare of Brant – but I should have realized that my age or my new affiliation wouldn't have stopped her. Not bothering to mask my annoyance, I sighed heavily and set my hands down in my lap, "The Mandalorian Clans and the Republic made me pay for every part of the Glythe sector – and I don't like reading about all my hard work being undone from the republic news service. I just feel useless and very helpless."

That wasn't entirely true, but that was close enough to the real thing to even make me believe it.

In truth, when I really thought about it – I had the urge to choke something.

Her upper lip curled in amusement, "I think we both know that you're not helpless."

"Alright," I conceded, "But I've got people, that I don't think are necessarily up to the task anymore, running my empire and the fact that there's nothing I can do about it is driving me mad."

"It only goes to show that without you,  _they_  are utterly helpless," She seemed pleased by this fact, before she turned to a medical station to input something, "It is good to see you after such a long time – by the way."

I offered her a smile in return, it wasn't entirely bad to be in this room with her again, "Likewise Madam Brant."

* * *

"I thought that the Jedi were above gloating," I scowled at them as the deactivated the holocom, it had taken an hour for the Glythe Sector to fall, "But it appears that I'm mistaken on that fact."

I was not being rude – it was a genuine observation, because as they showed me the reports coming in on the central hologram projector in the center of the council chamber, I was sure that I could see Vrook smiling at me. If there was ever a moment where I wanted to just drop this pretense and kill them all – it would be now, but it was only the fact that I needed to be here for the sake of my soon to-be apprentice that I resisted the urge. With my arms folded behind my back, I didn't bother to look them in the eye and simply stared at the holoprojector in the ground. In my head, I was caught in middle of the mental calculations of the invasion force that would be needed to retake that sector and refortify it and I was silently imaging the satisfied feeling that I would receive from decapitating Karath and Varrow. Silence filled the room, broken by the occasionally muffled noise of someone in the training center – and I steeled myself against the full power of their gaze when I raised my head up high, I would not give them the satisfaction of seeing me lose it. Fully expecting Master Vrook to retort with a dry reply, I turned my head in surprise as the ever diminutive Vandar spoke first, "We are not gloating, this is merely a catalyst for change."

Both of my eyebrows rose, his species was unknown to the galaxy and as far as I knew, he was the only one in the known galaxy, but I had to wonder if the rest of his kind was just as cryptic, "I beg your pardon?"

"You and Padawan Shan are being moved to Coruscant, we feel that with this happening – you will grow more restless, there – the High Council can control you much more tightly," Vandar replied – and I could detect a very small hint of smugness.

"You're sending me to Coruscant? A planet that has a population somewhere close to one trillion beings? A planet that is far too noisy in Force, so noisy in fact that if I do get out, and I will – you will never find me?" I couldn't help but send them a sharp smile – they were doing it for me, this was delicious, "The High Council couldn't control me if they actually gave it their full effort – if I were you, I'd keep me here, it's much safer to hold a prisoner of my abilities on a remote planet like this."

"Your powers are restrained, you are not a threat," Vrook droned to me from his seat on the far seat on the right.

Not really, although it took a large effort to force the collar off of my neck – it wasn't the hardest thing I had ever done and because of that, my powers were not restrained. In fact, when this was all over – I'd make sure that Vrook would see the full extent of my powers. But that would come in time, because now I had to recalculate my plan of escape and if it was even worth going to Coruscant and escaping there. By my internal calculations, it would be easier to take Bastila and have one of my agents come to Coruscant to retrieve us – but it-… it might be more helpful move things quicker than expected. I could of course break her in mind and spirit when we returned to the Star Forge, but she was different, I didn't want her to serve me under duress, I wanted her to believe in what I taught and in the cause. The smile I put on my face was purposefully thin and even allowed myself a hint of disgust – I had to make it convincing, it would be counterproductive for them to even think that they were giving me exactly what I wanted. Raising an eyebrow, my smile turned into a bit of a smirk, "The Padawan has agreed to this I presume? I'm sure she wasn't pleased to know that she was being transferred because of me."

"Grand Master Sunrider requested the both of you be moved," Vrook actually had the nerve to smirk at me, "She thinks that she knows how to break your bond with Bastila."

That… that could not be allowed to happen.

I did not believe off hand that she had the knowledge to break the bond – power perhaps, ability as well, but not the knowledge. As far as I knew, only a select group of people had the knowledge to break the bond and they'd never give it to a Jedi.

Much less the Grand Master of the Jedi Order.

But it wouldn't be prudent to  _not_  cover all of my bases.

It had been a simple matter really.

* * *

The Jedi had often proved me right in my theory that they were quite stupid, and the fact that they hadn't changed their security procedures since the time I had first arrived on this planet, over twenty years ago, attested to that. Carefully making sure to dim my presence in the Force after removing my collar, I deactivated the security cameras with a wave of my hand and forced the door to the shuttle bay control room open. All the precious information on planned incoming and outgoing flights onto and off of the planet were stored in this room – either flight plans that had been approved by the Republic or those belonging to Knights who were leaving for an assignment, but either way – I knew it would be here, the only few pieces of information that I needed. I wanted to know three things, if I was going to be locked in a cage for the journey, how many Jedi were accompanying us, and their exact flight plan. If I was in a cell, it would complicate things and it would force me to move faster, but I could work with that, I also wanted to know if there were any Jedi Masters accompanying us – it would give me an exact idea of who I would need to prepare myself to kill and I also wanted to know if their planned trajectory was convenient or not. Convenience would mean that the ship they were transporting me in would come close to a world with one of my installations on it that was also an escape pod ride away. Inconvenience meant that I'd have to obtain a lightsaber, kill all, but Bastila of course, and commandeer the ship.

I could do that – but it grew very tiresome, using the Force to move a capital ship required a large amount of focus and absolutely no break in concentration.

Sitting myself down at the terminal and quickly making their security protocols useless – I smiled as flight plan after flight plan began to appear.

Now the real work began.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan prepares to unleash his fury -- and plots some more, even as the naive Bastila receives a warning from the Force.

I was very disappointed in the characteristics and training of the supposed elite commandos of the Republican Army.

They were sluggish, they were crude and worst of all they were incredibly sloppy – so sloppy that I was sure that my own elite legion of commandos could crush them quite easily. The process of selecting this very special force began with the Dark Jedi of whom I, and only I, personally trusted with the task – they would be sent to worlds in the Empire on covert assignments undercover and they would scour every city, every town and every village for Force Sensitive people. My standing and general orders were for them to target teenagers that we reaching their majority, specific to their individual cultures and of all races – I did not find it wise to discriminate or waste potential resources. With that philosophy in mind, there were also a set of supplementary orders that instructed the Dark Jedi to undergo additional surveillance if they found someone of particular interest that was below their legal majority, and to  _persuade_  their parents or guardians to allow their children to come to the academy in the Outer Rim. From the moment they arrive at the Academy, they undergo the standard six months of training for the standard solider – when graduation comes, they're pulled by the commandant and are offered  _more_  training.

That's where their Force Sensitivity comes in.

The following year of absolutely difficult physical, psychological and mental training would be impossible for a standard solider to undergo – but for these specially selected beings and their sensitivity to the Force, it becomes easier. From scaling the biggest buildings in the most populated worlds, from jumping from shuttles in the atmosphere for covert penetration, to becoming master marksmen, swordfighters and technicians – the battery of tests, designed by me, turned them into the best non-Lightsaber wielding force in the entire galaxy. It's very rare that they're deployed onto the battlefield, so it was no surprise that the Republic thought these pathetic creatures could 'guard' me – my elite commandos were generally guarding the most important people and places in the Empire. Every Admiral, every General, every single leader of every world had at least ten of these men in the detachment of personal guards that were given to them by me. On the face they were loyal to their charge, but ultimately loyal to me and answerable to me and me alone. Dressed in the uniforms of officers for the Navy, Army, or simply dressed as regular soldiers – they hid in plain sight, and they did my bidding when ordered.

If any of my servants – excluding the Dark Jedi – decided to go rouge, such as Malak, they had orders to being systematically and covertly exterminate resistance and make it appear as if I wasn't aware. Of course, it might have been much more practical to kill them outright and make an example of them, but I had to save face and keep the loyalty and the trust of those who were loyal to me. It would not do well if those beings were aware that I tolerated no sign of disloyalty, no matter how small. My commandos were, in my opinion at least, one of, if not, my best creations – they were a spy, a slicer, a fighter, a solider and an assassin all into one neatly packed and tightly controlled package, that only I had ultimately control over.

And they could absolutely destroy these pathetic men in an instant.

So that's why I wore the cheekiest of grins as they escorted me to the shuttle pad on the upper level of the enclave, with their cocky swagger, their misplaced and underserved confidence, and their relaxed disposition. Did they not understand that their counterparts in the Empire were some of the greatest fighters the galaxy had ever seen? Did they seriously think that they were the best? The idea was hysterical. As far as their job of guarding me went, I was not intimated by them for a second and I think they knew it, I did not need to read them in the Force to see it. Perhaps it didn't help that I had laughed at them the entire way up here. Perhaps it was the idea of what I would do them if I was not bound by the collar and so very bent on keeping to the role of controlled prisoner. I could break their collective necks with a single gesture of my finger, with a clenched fist, I could break every bone their bodies, and with my powers, I could, without a doubt, unhinge their minds.

"Do you have any idea when we get to leave?" I asked the 'commando' who was leading me to the shuttle – I was purposely pouring in a bored sounding tone, just to make him angry.

"Pipe down you scum!" The leader hissed back at me and I couldn't help but role my eyes.

Oh yes – when we were far away from this planet and when I had gained control of the capital ship, he would die first.

It wasn't that he offended me with his words, no, I'd been called scum, as well as a plethora of other curses from every tongue in the galaxy before – his tone, however, was rude, and I hated rude people.

"Are you going to be keeping me company in my cell?" I asked him, the picture of innocence.

"Why yes I will, unfortunately," He sneered back at me as we finally came to the ramp of the shuttle, "I have strict orders to keep my eyes on you."

"Do they think that you handle me?" I asked, carefully keeping my amusement out of my voice.

For this to work, I would need to keep up the façade that I had so carefully crafted over the past few weeks and make it appear as if I was completely and totally vulnerable. From my observations of this man, should he be my guard, I knew exactly what it would take to kill him, even without the full use of my powers. The man was walking with a slight hesitation in his left ankle, that suggested a recent injury, perhaps a sprained angle or tendon – a minor enhanced kick with the Force would probably be sufficient to deal with the leg, I still couldn't decide if a compound fracture would be necessary, I supposed time would tell. Another interesting thing was the fact that the man seemed to be rubbing the muscles in his neck, now if I was correct, that suggested a recent injury to the neck and a weakness in the muscles – I would have to test that. I wonder if he knew that he had the honor of being the first that I killed when I commandeered the ship – would he be at all flattered?

"Why yes, I know I can your lordship," He smiled darkly at me – the fool, "Without your fancy powers, I could break your neck."

"Trained in the Echani Arts?" I ventured a guess – the tattoo on his wrist denoted at least some training from an Echani Master.

"That's right, I spent some time with them after what you did to Taris, so if I ever got to meet you – I could give you a taste of your own medicine," He was practically leering at me – the anticipation of getting me alone must have been torture.

I allowed a smirk, "Well good for you – the tattoo on your left wrist does indicate that you were trained by the Echani, but do you know what it also signifies?"

"What?" He asked.

"That your training was incomplete," I smiled dangerously at him – and I could practically feel his fear, it was delicious, "Whereas the tattoo on my left wrist is one that indicates that I've been fully trained in Echani Martial Arts."

The man's face contorted into a disgusted sneer, "The Echani would never train you."

"That's right, they wouldn't, I defeated their enemies, the Mandalorians, and themselves on many occasions, so they respect me," I allowed him is confusion for a moment before swooping in again, "But they trained me before they hated me."

Taking a step forward and ignoring the shouts of the guards behind me to stay where I was, I walked up to the man and got into his face, "So you may think you can break my neck, and it's possible that you can, but I  _know_  that I can break yours."

"That's enough!" The voice of Master Vrook rang out and shattered the stunned silence that had come over my guards.

Stepping away from the commando, and turning back to the poor excuse for a Jedi, I offered him a wide smile, "Oh, Master Vrook, please tell me that you're escorting me as well?"

Vrook, in principle, was the model Jedi Master – dull, pedantic and utterly devoted to the dogmatic dictates of the Jedi Code. However, Vrook was in the minority in regards to his temperament, nasty, brutish and all topped with a touch of anger, a well concealed, but nevertheless present anger. Unlike most of the Masters of the Jedi Order, he called for my execution after I'd returned from the unknown, deeming me too dangerous to be left alive and proclaiming that the entire galaxy as whole would never be safe so long as I lived. Though he would deny it if I called him out on it, I had no doubt that at least once on this journey, he would be tempted to end my life and "purge the galaxy of my evil" – I didn't intended for him to get that chance. When he came to a stop, his arms folded behind his back, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the Jedi Master wore four lightsabers on his belt, two were his own of course, but the other two, of it was most excellent, very wonderful.

"I see that you're carrying my lightsabers," I mused gently as he followed my line of sight, "I'm surprised that you haven't destroyed them."

"I was ordered not to, the council wants them taken back to Temple for study," Vrook replied, his voice smug, "I'll be hand delivering them to the Grand Master herself."

I raised an eyebrow and opened my mouth to ask another question, when Bastila and another Jedi came to flank him, "Ah – my future Apprentice makes her entrance."

"In your dreams," She sneered at me.

"Ah," I chuckled lightly, and as a result her face blanched, "Be that as it may young one, my dreams have this annoying tendency to come true,"

Snapping my head back to the idiot in charge of this gaggle of incompetent fools, I copied Bastila's sneer, "Let us leave, I'm growing nauseous in the presence of all this Jedi filth."

* * *

Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps they weren't underestimating the threat that I posed to their ship.

When I stepped off shuttle ramp, I'd been so carefully concentrating on not tripping from the shackles around my legs that when I finally looked up, I was shocked by the amount of weapons that were aimed at me. There had to be at least an entire battalion in the hanger, at least sixty men had their rifles trained on me and if that wasn't unnerving enough, the soldiers were backed by at full complement of a dozen Mark V Sentential Droids with their blaster cannons aimed at my head. I knew that those cannons had the ability to vaporize all substances that were capable of vaporizing, considering that I had a hand in designing them during the Mandalorian Wars – seeing a dozen of them aimed directly at me was fighting to say the least. I did not fear most things, that was a given fact – but I wasn't a fool, I knew fear was useful in some situations, such as this one. I could kill them all, yes – but only if I had control of the situation, only if I had my weapons and access to my powers.

Shackled, disarmed and powerless for the moment – they could easily kill me. No sudden moves, no hesitation, no smart mouth, there was no way for me to get out of this unscathed for the moment.

"Move it prisoner!" One of the guards shouted at me.

Oh yes, I'd have to wait.

Again.

* * *

Crossing my legs and looking at my fingernails, I fully ignored the guard that was relaying to me the rules for my journey and focused my willpower towards the neural disruptor – I needed to break its hold over me now. From the outside looking in I was the picture of innocence, sitting in my cell – rudely ignoring the guard. On the inside, I was bringing all of my concentration of breaking the field that the disruptor put around my mind – I had to push just right. I couldn't alert the Jedi outside of my cell by destroying the barrier with the full force of my willpower. I was one of the most powerful users of the force alive and due to our proximity, as well as their sensitivity, they would feel it and they would attack me when I wasn't prepared for it.

"Do you understand the rules?" The guard asked me – interrupting my train of thought.

Growling in irritation, I looked up to him and narrowed my eyes, "Of course I understand the rules you little fool – now be a good little servant and run along."

"Do you have any questions? I wouldn't want disgust you anymore," He sneered at me.

I had to fight to keep a smile off of my face.

My irritation with the man was all that I needed to break through the collar and in that moment – my powers and my awareness to the Force returned and flooded the entirety of my being in a wave. Until this moment, I'd only allowed myself to draw on the periphery of my powers, using them to a minor degree, not wanting to attract the attention of the Jedi around me. Now, I had all of them back and it was like a breath of fresh air – not answering the man, I simply looked at him while I simply drew back in the Force, cloaking my presence from the Jedi on the ship. I had to wait for a while, preferably for the first day of the two day journey was over – far enough from Dantooine to not cause any trouble, but not close enough to Coruscant for any possible reinforcements to arrive to interrupt my plans. Finally settling on a properly worded question, I quirked an eyebrow at the man and felt the fear and anger radiating from him, I was practically swimming in it and I loved it.

"Have we departed Dantooine yet?" I asked the man with a mild expression.

"We departed as soon as you were in the cell," He answered curtly, I felt his anger evaporating and now it was replaced with a cautious and yet palpable fear.

It appeared that they were putting up an image of bravado around me – excellent.

* * *

_The sight sickened me more than any other repulsive thing that I had ever seen in my life – he was defenseless in this state and surely it would not take all of these men to subdue him. Standing next to Master Vrook at the back of the column of the soldiers that had assembled to try and force the errant Dark Lord of the Sith back into his cell, I promptly felt my jaw drop as he began to defend himself. Well, not defend himself per say, more attack each of the soldiers – leaping from one point to another, I watched as Revan dodged blaster bolt after blaster bolt, using his enhanced speed as his greatest defensive weapon. Gripping my lightsaber tighter, I watched as he began to deflect bolts back at their originator with a mere flick of his hand – and that was when the killing started. I felt shock, anger and a smidgen of fear come from my side as I too let shock into my system, we should have known better, Revan was powerful and he was right, the collar couldn't contain him._

_The sounds of screaming, shouts, weapons fire and the unmistakable sound of dark laughter filled the corridor as the battle progressed. Searching fervently for Revan again, I let out a little gasp as my eyes met his – and after snapping the neck of the poor fool who thought he would be a match for the Dark Lord, the man raised his hand and beckoned to me three times with a finger and his damned smirk. Turning back to Master Vrook, I felt the tiniest bit of reassurance when he nodded and we began to strike forward. Slowly, but ever so cautiously, Master Vrook and I began to wade through the crowds of soldiers that were still left – and though they were no match for Revan, the strength in numbers did give me a bit, if only a small comfort. However, as if the Dark Lord could read my mind, the comfort was taken away and it was taken away in such a painful and positively evil way that it left both I, and Master Vrook, staggering back at the feeling of what Revan had just done._

_There had to be at least twenty soldiers backing us up still – but with a clenching of both his bare fists – Revan had seized their throats in the Force and crushed them all._

_The feeling of twenty lives being snuffed out simultaneously by a massive exertion in the force made my stomach boil._

" _You-… you monster," Vrook hissed from beside me as he took in the devastation wrought by Revan, "You cannot be permitted to live – you are a danger to everyone around you!"_

_The cocky, arrogant smirk and tone that I had come to know from the Dark Lord had not changed, despite the fire and the power that now radiated from him, "Whatever you say."_

_And with an outstretched hand, I gasped in unadulterated shock as the Dark Lord literally tore his lightsabers from the belt of Master Vrook._

_No one should have the power to do that – Vrook was one of the most powerful Jedi in the entire order and if Revan could do that, there was nothing stopping him – judging by the shock from Vrook, he evidently felt the same thing._

_The snap hiss of two lightsabers drew my attention back to our opponent and the picture that he presented was one that sent a shiver down my spine._

_His face, between the cross of his two lightsabers, bathed in crimson, held a feral smirk._

Awaking with nothing less than a scream – I propped myself up and tried to catch my breath – absently moving one of my hands to wipe the sweat off of my forehead.

The logical side of my mind told me that Revan was not capable of producing the results, but logic was different when it came to dealing with one so submerged in the powers of the Dark Side of the Force. The masters of council had long debated the complete and total extent of Revan's powers – and the only thing single thing that they could agree on was the fact that they were extensive and they were powerful. It was very rare for someone to literally snatch weapons off of the belt of a Jedi Master, and it was almost unheard of for Sith Masters to be able to establish mental bonds with Jedi. The depths of his powers were unknown to the Jedi, so perhaps – just perhaps, Revan was powerful enough to disarm a powerful Master like Vrook. Wiping the renewed sheen of sweat off of my forehead again, I leaned over the console beside my bed and pressed the communication line towards Revan's cell and his guards, "Lieutenant Rorrick – is the prisoner secure, what's his status?"

"The prisoner is asleep," The Lieutenant reported back at once, he apparently couldn't shut his eyes either, just being in proximity to the Dark Lord was unnerving, "And he is causing no issues."

"Wake him up!" I ordered, leaning up and swinging my legs over the side of my bed, "I demand to speak with him."

* * *

I suppose that this wasn't one of the worst sights to wake up to.

There were three possible reasons for a human of the male gender not to be sexually attracted to Bastila Shan. The first and by far biggest reason for it was they had to be attracted to their own gender, the second was that they simply weren't attracted to women that looked like Bastila, and the third was a simply a revulsion. The girl was too innocent, too naïve, too idealistic and frankly too sweet for some people. Some men preferred women who knew what they were doing, who were none of things that Bastila was, but I was not one of them. I was not a homosexual – her physical attractiveness was astounding and her naivety was both charming and fascinating to say the least. I suppose it brought out the artist in me and the teacher, and I loved both of those roles.

Still not rising up from the uncomfortable bench, I simply kept my head turned in her direction to observe her in her current state of dress. Goodness, this girl would not be able to go through a cantina in the entire galaxy without being hit on. Curves in all the right places, legs that seemed to go on forever, beautiful, thick hair, and the most peculiar eyes – the girl was beautiful, amazingly beautiful. Tightening my hands into fits, I let an appreciative smirk come over my face, "Well, well, well, is this a conjugal visit dear?"

The loveliest shade of red came over her cheekbones and I let out a little snicker as she finally seemed to come to her senses and realized that her robe was hanging wide open and her sleepwear was showing, "No, I have had the most curious dream about you."

"Did it involve me tearing off your underwear with my teeth?" I practically purred at her, my arousal was real, "I'd love to do that."

"N-no," She stuttered and I laughed again, that was another reason why I loved innocent women, they were so very easy to fluster.

"Then what, pray tell, has got you coming to my cell in the middle of the night, dressed in that?" I asked her mildly.

"I had a dream that you had broken free and had managed to hijack the ship," She raised her own brow in turn, "Anything that we should know? Because I have the strangest feeling that it was indeed a vision of the future, I want to know what you think about it?"

I had to school my features to hide my shock.

Visions of future events were not uncommon amongst practitioners of the Force, but they were rare and they usually happened on very rare occurrences when a climatic event was about to occur. I'd had them before, most of which had occurred in a wartime setting – near the end or the beginning of important battles – but why had the Force deemed Bastila with a vision? Much less one of my plans? It was inconvenient. Tapping my fingers against my forearms, I adopted a face of serious, but feigned, contemplation.

"The future is always in motion young one," I replied sagely, keeping my mocking tone out of my voice, "Perhaps what you saw was indeed a possible future, but on the other hand, this could obviously be a nightmare – you should really learn to tell the difference."

"This was a vision, this was not a dream – I know the difference," Bastila replied stubbornly.

She was lying to me, that much I could feel it through the Force.

"You're such a liar Bastila," I scoffed at her, this time rising up, "Was it an entire event? Meaning did an entire event play out? Or was it a short dream? Did you only receive flashes of, or shades of an event? Did you know what going on, or where you confused darling?"

"Don't call me that!" She snapped at me.

I rolled my eyes, "Answer the question."

"I saw an entire event," Bastila replied, sounding, feeling and defiantly looking stupid.

"Then it is not a vision little girl," I made a dismissive gesture with my hands, "Force Visions are notoriously short and confusing and there had never been a case where it is clear, concise and actually makes sense – what you saw as a nightmare and nothing more."

"I'm not so certain," Bastila replied.

She had every right to be uncertain – because she her subconscious was quite correct.

But she didn't need to know that yet.

"I have been studying the secrets of the Force since before you even picked up a lightsaber for the first time – do not presume for an instant that you know more than me, especially on this subject," I hissed at her and narrowed my eyes, "So piss off, go back to your silly little nightmares and trouble me no more. I have to prepare myself for my return to the Temple in these heavy shackles."

When she made an indignant little sound, stomped on her foot and turned to leave, I folded my knees up to my chest, closed my eyes and began to recite the Sith Code – gathering my strength.

I would need every bit of it to overcome the sheer numbers.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan cuts through an army and reestablishes his dominance.

**Revan's Point of View**

The time had come.

We were already well into the midday of the second day of our journey into the core and I knew that if I didn't proceed to break out within the next hour, I would be out of the target zone for escape. If we went any further when the next hour was over, then it would be only a matter of minutes for Republic reinforcements to arrive and stop me from commandeering the ship. The few dozen light years ahead of us were devoid of any military bases and that provided the perfect opportunity for me to take the ship without any interruptions. It would take me at least a half hour at most to dispatch with the Jedi and subdued Bastila, I could kill every other living being on this ship if I focused hard enough – so I assumed that it would be at least forty-five minutes for me to get to the bridge. That left a twelve minute cushion for me to escape Republic forces if they sent for reinforcements – and it was another hour to journey back through this neutral territory to reach Imperial space.

Reaching out and gently casting my senses to expand over the room, I could feel the humming of life from my jailor – I could feel the presence of the holo-camera in the far left corner of the ceiling, I could feel the power of the Jedi outside of the brig door, I was the Force and the Force was me. Letting my presence drift over to the holo-camera, I used the Force to freeze the image that the security officers on the bridge would undoubtedly see and as far as anyone would know, I was still sitting in my cell meditating. They wouldn't know how I mentally reached out and grabbed my jailer by the neck in the Force and snapped it effortlessly – they wouldn't hear the thump of his body as it hit the ground. They wouldn't see me literally pry the door off of my cell and they wouldn't see me calmly stand up and stretch my muscles. Linking my fingers, I cracked my knuckles and smirked, in the Force I felt my full powers returning to me in a torrent of energy and it was invigorating.

Extending my hand as I fully stepped out of the cell, I sent a powerful push towards the door and watched as it flew back from the doorway and landed with a crash in the corridor outside.

When the distinctive snap hiss of a lightsaber caught my ears, I watched as the third human Jedi Knight that had been assigned to escort me to Coruscant stepped into the doorway, his posture ready to attack. The boy radiated fear, shock and a distinctive taste of determination in the Force – and I watched in amusement as it finally occurred to him that I was free of the collar and had full used of my abilities. Without saying a single word, the boy brought his lightsaber to a fighting stance and charged at me, all the while letting out a battle cry. Rolling my eyes, I idly thought that this boy was unorthodox at best – the Jedi did not attack and they certainly did not let out battle yells. Leaping over him with aid from the Force and settling on my haunches by the desk of my now dead jailer, I pulled myself back from the Force and smirked a little when I watched the Jedi bring his lightsaber into a defensive arch around him. They were truly idiots, yes – it was smart to search for an enemy in the Force, but not when that person knew the lost technique of hiding yourself in the Force. If he would only use his eyes and move a little, he could see me, but no, the fool decided to stay right where he was and that left him open.

Waving my hand at the light panels, the smile on my face as they dimmed was completely predatory.

When the lights shut off completely and the room was bathed in pitch darkness, I raised myself up and began to circle him – using the boy's thick fear as a sort of compass around the room, "Your fear is delicious Jedi."

The Jedi brought his lightsaber up at the sound of my voice and swung to where I was only a few moments before, "Show yourself!"

"Come now, you didn't think that I would make it that easy for you," I chuckled and pulled myself even further back in the Force, by now – not even the greatest Jedi Master would be able to sense me, "Use your eyes fool."

"I do not need my eyes," He hissed and swung his lightsaber again, "Fight me you coward!"

I let out a deadly laugh, "Only if you can find me."

But the Jedi refused to play with me and I knew that I could no longer to afford play this game with him – so without any hesitation, I grabbed his throat in the Force and clenched my fist. When I saw the deactivation of his lightsaber and heard the very sickening sound of his neck breaking, I waited for the sound of his body hitting the floor before releasing my hold on the lights. When the lights slowly came back on, I smiled a little sadly at the sight of the crumpled body of the boy – he could have just fought me and I might have simply incapacitated him, I could always use more Dark Jedi. Summoning his lightsaber to my hand, I activated it and cringed at the green blade – green was never my color, not even when I was a Jedi Knight.

Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself and simply walked around his body and departed the brig.

My first task would be to clear this deck of all resistance, and then I would move up to the higher decks and get my damned lightsabers back.

It would take a lot of cleaning to get the filth of the Jedi off of them.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

I awoke with a start and frantically tried to find my lightsaber.

The feel of the bond reasserting itself had weighed on my chest as if someone had thrown a slab of permacrete on it – and considering that I wasn't sleeping, I knew that the worst had happened. Master Vrook had instructed Tarren and me to use our full powers of awareness over the ship – if Revan escaped and used his powers to start killing members of the crew, we would be alerted and we could act. Pulling the blankets back and shooting out my hand to summon my lightsaber to me, I bolted right to the door and was met with the sight of chaos. Officers scrambled to the turbo lifts, their weapons drawn – and the troops aimed their rifles at secured doorway to the section over and all of the room seemed to be sucked out of the air. Activating my lightsaber and bringing it up to an attack positon, I slowly made my way to the trooper who I remembered was the command officer for the deck – I wanted to know why they were holding this positon and not going after him.

"Solider," I began, not taking my eyes off of the door. "What's the situation?"

The solider sounded beside himself with anger and in the Force. I could easily tell that it was directed at the Jedi as much as it was directed at Revan. That confused me for a moment, we were supposed to be the guardians of peace and justice in the Republic – if the soldiers of the Republic were beginning to associate us with him, then that could spell disaster. Once we dealt with Revan and, hopefully, put it back into confinement, we needed to make sure that the rank and file troops knew the differences between us. We were good, Revan was the evil person here, "The prisoner escaped twenty minutes ago and killed everyone on Deck Four – including Knight Vrack, he just penetrated Deck Three. Master Vrook is currently engaging him, he gave us orders to fall back to this positon and hold this door. What I don't get is how he managed to escape? Didn't you Jedi assure us that he couldn't get out of that collar?! You should have just killed him when you had the chance!"

I realized with a sinking feeling that he was right.

And I felt the anger come quickly after that.

Revan had played us – he had played me and I didn't want to begin to explore how that would make me feel betrayed.

We had been such fools, allowing him to live, allowing him to live in the enclave, spy on us and give him greater understanding of our current internal workings. When I stormed away from the solider and headed towards the door, I ignored the very angry commands of that solider to get back and depressed the activation button with the Force. In my mind, I recalled one of the first meetings that Revan had with the council and I had to suppress the urge to strangle the Dark Lord, he had been so smug, he had been so arrogant and we had been so foolish. When Revan proclaimed that he had the ability to break the control of the collar, the council had initially thought that he was being facetious – the Lord of the Sith had the very unusual disposition to have a dry and very acerbic sense of humor – if only we had realized that he wasn't lying. If only we had realized that in time and maybe the hundred people that he had killed tonight would not have had to die, because of us.

When the door slid open, I was immediately caught off guard when I felt the iron grip of the Dark Lord of the Sith grab me in the Force and slam me against the wall, it happened so quick that I didn't even have a chance to cry out when my weapon flew from my hand and right into Revan's awaiting one. Groaning in pain and struggling to find my bearings, I managed to look up and what I saw caused that sinking feeling to grow – because Revan was overpowering one of the most powerful Jedi in the entire order. In a spinning torrent of green and yellow – I found myself mesmerized by the speed, agility and force that Revan was bringing against Master Vrook, who seemed to be barely holding his own against his opponent. I didn't know why it was so surprising, I knew that Revan was an incredibly powerful user of the Force, everyone attested to it and the fact that he was able to penetrate my mind and bind me to him that easily was a testament to the power at his beckon call.

However, it had all seemed like a fictional narrative – for these past few weeks, Revan had been nothing but a powerless and witty prisoner.

Now he was using his powers again, and now he wasn't the prisoner that I had come to know – he was the Lord of the Sith again, and it was utterly terrifying.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

The old man was weakening.

I wanted to smirk, but I was too concentrated on overpowering him with skill and brute, dark side enhanced, strength.

Being sure to keep my front to the still-incapacitated Bastila, a lesson that I had not forgotten from our first encounter, I drove the attack home, delivering a kick to his side, elbowing him in the face and countering his blows with decisive blocks. If this had been Master Zhar or even Master Vandar, I might have had a slightly more difficult time, but this was Vrook – and of all of the Masters that I could have battled, he was the easiest. In his prime and in his youth, Vrook had a been a feared Jedi, feared for his combat abilities as well as his command of the Force, but like his youth, those days were long behind him. Vrook had become passive, his years of sitting on his exalted throne on the council had dulled his senses and his choice to remain out of the Mandalorian Wars had become a detriment to him. If he had bothered to leave the Temple during those days, he might have been a challenge for me, but he hadn't – and now he had to deal with everything that I had with me.

The weeks of indignities that I had suffered on that insufferable little planet had been adding up.

The rush of my powers returning to me with their full strength was bolstering me with pure and total adrenaline.

And most of all, I was out for blood – more specifically  _his_ blood.

Smirking as the opening in his defenses presented itself to me – I brought Bastila's lightsaber up into a feint of a strike, and when he used his weapon hand to block it, I brought the other lightsaber into a sharp downward swing.

Right through his right thigh.

Grinning in satisfaction as the sound of the blade severing his femur, muscles and femoral artery – I deactivated the lightsabers as the formerly-arrogant Jedi Master collapsed in indescribable pain and gently tossed them aside. I took a sort of vindictive pleasure in stepping through the blood that was now rushing out of his body and summoning my two lightsabers from his belt. Watching as my two weapons attached themselves to my belt through manipulation with the Force, I stepped back and folded my arms over my chest. Oh yes, I was going to savor this moment – I had only been thinking about it since I was ten years old and actively plotting it since I was twenty years old – it was truly a dream come true to see all of this.

"Master," I mocked him with a concerned voice, "Master, you don't look so good."

Looking down at this gushing femoral artery, I sent a smile in his direction – gleeful that he was watching me and hearing exactly what I had to say, "A tricky thing, the human body – without the proper enhancements and training, so weak and so very fragile if struck in the right place. In case you haven't noticed, I've severed your femoral artery – and its clean cut and bleeding quite extensively. Without medical attention, you will dead within the next few moments, unfortunately for you…"

I brought both of my hands up and practically embraced the rush of energy that was rushing towards my fingertips, "…I've killed all the medical staff."

Unleashing the storm of lightening at my fingertips, I pressed harder for more energy and brought my hands closer to Vrook's unconscious frame. He was already too far gone to feel what was happening to him, but I wanted this, I wanted the very powerful pleasure in knowing that I took him out of this world with more than just a severed limb. It was such an interesting thing to use lightening against and opponent and in the right lighting, you could see their bone structure – which of course stroked my interest as an academic. I could see every bone in his body as the lightening coursed through his veins – and when I felt the life begin to drain out of him at a faster rate, I pressed my hands closer and finally silenced his life, forever.

Jedi Master Vrook Lamar was dead at my hand.

And I couldn't be more thrilled about it.

However, in the midst of basking in my victory, I almost forgot the fact that I had my back to Bastila – and when I felt her sneaking up on me in the Force, I spun and sent her flying back into the bulkhead with the Force again. Seeing her sprawled out there, not being able to get up under the weight of my power – I smiled, did she know the journey that she was about to undergo? No, I didn't think that she did. Walking forward calmly, still mentally keeping her held to the bulkhead, I sunk down to my haunches and smiled at her. The pure loathing that she directed at me was wonderful and I let her know it to with my pleased smile, she didn't know it, but she was already taking her stroll towards the Dark Side and it was perfect.

"Did anyone ever tell you that you're beautiful when you're angry?" I winked down at her.

Bastila growled, "You will pay for this! The Republic will not stop until they make you pay for all of the lives you took!"

"Revenge is unbecoming of a Jedi," I purred and lightly wrapped my hand around her throat, not squeezing, but summoning the power of our bond. "Darling, what you're about to experience is the compulsion effect of the bond – yes, before you say it, I did lie – I lied to all of you, I lied so that I could infiltrate the Jedi and learn their inner workings, I lied so that I could have limitless access to the newest crop of Padawan leaners, and I lied so that I could keep both of my eyes on you!"

She had the nerve to look shocked.

Really? I was Sith, it was in my nature to lie.

"You did not seriously think that I could be contained by your pitiful neural disruptor," I grinned and leaned toward to place two of my fingers on her forehead and tap it lightly – the bond, in truth, was an archaic form of Sith Magic that was lost quite a long time ago to the wider and more mainstream practitioners of the Force at the end of the Great Hyperspace War – it took a great feat of archeology to find it in the ruins of Korriban. "You will not leave this room, you will not move from this very spot, you will not attempt to attack me or kill me when I return for you, little Jedi. You will be perfectly passive and you will obey every command that I give you, if you do not, you will be racked with terrible pain until I deem otherwise, understand?"

Bastila bared her teeth at me, and I watched as she begrudgingly nodded at me, "Yes…  _Master_ …"

I preened under that title, it felt right, "It's a wonder what a little Sith Magic can do to you, can it?"

* * *

**Forn Dodonna's Point of View**

I was not a patient woman.

Before I entered the Military, I had been – but that was when I was young, and willing to make more sacrifices. Now, all these years later, I was in command of the Republic Navy and patience was not something that was advisable in most situations that I encountered in my occupation. The arrival of the _Justice_  from Dantooine was on schedule and I shouldn't have been worried about it, but I was, I was deathly worried, I was worried because it was carrying the most dangerous man in the galaxy, and if, somehow, he was able to break free of his confinement, there was the very real possibility that everyone on board was dead. The very few people that had returned from the Mandalorian Wars that had served under Darth Revan had all agreed on one thing, he was a brilliant man and whenever he put his mind to something, he didn't stop until he had it. I feared that if he put his mind to escaping, he could very easily hijack a shuttle, or perhaps the whole damned ship and…

Turning away from the wide window that looked out onto the courtyard of the Admiralty Headquarters, I turned back to observe my communications officer for the moment. Everything was abuzz for the arrival of Darth Revan, everything was being done to ensure that he got off of the ship and was transported to a cell that he could not possibly break out of, even with Force at his command. There was an extra-military presence in the streets, extra-intelligence officers monitoring the known Sith sympathizers and there was the heavy presence of battle cruisers and fighters present in the system, in cast the Sith attempted to extract him before he was able to be imprisoned. Something in my gut, however, was telling me that my choice to pull several of the fleets back to protect Coruscant and to guard it for Revan's arrival was the very wrong choice. My gut, my pure intuition, had never failed me and I knew that I wouldn't be at rest until I least satisfied my intense curiosity.

"Lieutenant," I barked at my communications officer and I stepped forward and came to stand behind him at his station, "Bring up images of the bridge and brig of the Justice – and if something is wrong, initiate engine shutdown."

The Lieutenant nodded and I watched fingers danced across the panel to bring up the technical reports on the capital ship carrying Revan.

The ability to read the status of capital ships light years away was something of a closely guarded secret, it allowed us to determine when one of our ships were in danger, trouble or had been hijacked. After a rash of Sith attacks and thefts on the Hammerhead-class cruisers that patrolled the border, we ordered our ship designers to include a sort of override system for the ships – if we determined that the ship was no longer under our control, we could effectively kill all the power on the ship and render it useless until our forces could establish control. While most of the fleet still lacked the feature, we were slowly integrating the generation of cruisers with the feature, and luckily, the  _Justice_  was one of the dozen ships that had it.

When the security feeds from the brig and bridge of the Justice appeared on the screen – I felt my stomach drop.

"How far are our nearest ships?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the screen.

All of the crew, they were all dead – huge swathes of them with limbs missing, heads missing, some with looks of pure terror frozen on their faces – I did not want to think of the ways that they had died.

"An hour and a half away," Lieutenant Brashad replied.

"Dispatch them immediately, I want them to proceed to the Justice as fast as possible," I commanded and then I corrected my posture to a more commanding one, "Kill the engines and then patch me through to their bridge."

He would pay for this.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

"Admiral Dodonna," I purred, I was very pleased by these developments, arrogance and pride aside, I did love to gloat. "How unfortunate that we speak under such… fortuitous circumstances…"

As far as the good Admiral was concerned, I had slaughtered every living thing on this ship – but I didn't, no, in the periphery of my mind, I could still feel living beings, hidden in their rooms, trapped in corridors and some of my victims were still clinging to life. Yes, at least some of the people on this ship, other than Bastila and myself, were still alive and that was when I began to mull over the idea of not destroying the ship. I did have a conscious, no matter how jaded it, and I, had become over the years and there was a value in letting people escape. When the people who were still living were released back into the Republic, they would no doubt attempt to tell everyone about what happened on this ship. Some would be very cocky about it, spinning the story in a way that made it sound like they faced me and lied to tell the tale. Others would recall it would horrific intensity, which would also be useful – either way, the story of what happened here would spread.

"Darth Revan," She nodded curtly, "I assume that everyone onboard is dead?"

I scoffed and put on a face of mock offence, "Oh no, certainly not, and you wound me Forn with the very implication, you really do."

The Admiral was not pleased, "Get to the point."

"Only most of the beings on this ship or dead," I corrected her gently – with a teasing smile on my face, "You'll find that a good hundred beings are still alive – most of them are passengers, and a few low ranking officers in the decks below."

When I broke from Deck Four – I sealed the inhabitants of Deck Five on the deck, instead of killing them, choosing not to waste my time with the unimportant people. When I got to the bridge, I had cut all power but life support from the fifth Deck, effectively sealing them in until someone released them or they worked up the drive to escape. Folding my arms over my chest, my grin widened at her shock, and perhaps her shock was justified. This cruiser, at maximum capacity, carried about four hundred passengers and three hundred crew members – I had just told her that I, in the process of an hour, and singlehandedly, killed six hundred beings with nothing but my lightsaber and the power of the Force. Well, it was true, with my weapons of choice returned, and my Force powers back at full capacity, I could have very well killed more without any effort. Thankfully for the passengers of the fifth deck, my blood lust was quenched and they would survive, physically anyway.

"Master Vrook?" Dodonna questioned and I could tell that she was starting to become overwhelmed by the news.

"Dead," I replied cheerfully and grinned at her look of sadness, "Oh yes, the foolish oaf thought that he could overpower me, me! And in our ensuing duel, I distracted him, and severed his femoral artery, but he didn't die from that, want to know?"

Admiral Dodonna narrowed her eyes and growled at me, "If only to damn you at your trial."

"What wishful thinking you have Admiral," I smirked and shook my head, "There will be no trial – however, I will still regal with how I fried the life out of Master Vrook with my bare hands and I had snuffed his existence out, once and for all."

Even through the holocom connection, I could feel smugness rolling off of the Admiral and my mind's eye narrowed, what did this trollop have to be smug about? I would teach her otherwise. It wasn't polite to be smug when I was delivering a monologue, but when she elaborated about her smugness, I nearly laughed. Take advantage of Opportunities, that was one of the fundamental lessons that Kreia had taught me, never let opportunities pass and when you saw them, you were to reach out and grab the opportunity by the throat and make it yours, "We're recording this – we're going to broadcast it on the news tonight – just to show the Republic what kind of a sick, barbaric tyrant you really are, say hello to the public."

I plastered my most charming smile on my face and waved a little, "Hello citizens of the Republic, contrary to whatever propaganda the Republic Military is spewing at you, the events on this ship are hardly what they're painting it to be. In fact, they are much worse – I've killed six hundred people this day, with my lightsabers and my hands. I killed five hundred, ninety-eight soldiers, officers, medics and technicians – a fully trained and legendary Jedi Master, and a pitiful little Jedi Knight. I can tell you this much, any attempt to stand in my way will be met by much larger and far more destructive means, and to give you a little demonstration of the power I possess, take the esteemed Admiral Forn Dodonna. There are currently light years between us – and when logic dictates that I can't kill her-…"

I reached out with the Force, aimed my hand at the hologram of Admiral Dodonna and curled index finger and thumb.

And proceeded to choke her through the Force.

"…it seems that I can," I grinned and slowly closed the distance between my thumb and index finger, "If I were the Supreme Chancellor, I would advise my staff to never contact me again over holocom, it can prove quite  _lethal_."

The last thing that I saw before all the power on the ship seemed to shut off, was the sight of Admiral Forn Dodonna grasping wildly at her throat with both of hands.

I hoped that she, or the rest of the Republic, would never forget that lesson.

 


	9. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan and Bastila make their rough escape from the ship of the dead.

**Revan's Point of View**

Watching impassively as the soldiers guarding the hanger fell to the bulkhead, as dead as could be, I made a motion for Bastila to go ahead to the nearest shuttle and warm it up. That was the plan – I would weaken the bonds of the blast door to the point where a single push in the Force would be able to destroy them. The vacuum effect would give us a wild ride for a few moments, but I was confident that I would be able to keep us free from being hit by a stray fighter or a piece of debris when the contents of the hanger were sucked out into space. Of course, my plan hinged on being able to weaken the door just right, I would need to time to get onto the shuttle, center myself and be able to concentrate to keep us steady.

Of course, if I didn't get it just right, we would be screwed beyond all measure.

This was a troublesome new failsafe that Republic ships had and I made a mental note to dispatch my intelligence officers to find the manufacturer and designer of this little program – and kidnap them, or kill them and destroy their lives and all of their work. Not that I intended to be captured like this every time, but really – this was proving to be a pain, and very daunting as I took in the thick, durasteel plating protecting the gravity of the hanger, this was very taxing. Yes, once I got out of this situation, I would have all of their lives, their families and their work systemically destroyed and I would assign my own engineers to begin building a weapon that could counter this little issue – perhaps it had been useful to be in this situation.

Extending my hand and grabbing onto the blast doors in the Force with an iron grip, I grunted in part exertion and part frustration as the door refused to move, it was so damned strong. I had attempted to do the same thing, but on smaller scales and it was nothing like breaking bones or choking people. Throwing out my other hand, I gripped the same area and pressed the full weight of my strength in the Force down on it and I let out a satisfied noise when I heard the distinctive sound of durasteel creaking and cracking. I could kill dozens of people at a single time with a simple movement of my hand and it hardly bothered me, but trying to break through what seemed a meter and a half of durasteel was so very taxing to me.

The irony would be delicious if I weren't in this situation.

Feeling my danger sense send tingles down my spine, I saw the distinctive cracks forming in the durasteel and I knew what was going to happen before my brain caught up with my thoughts. That was what caused me to bolt mindlessly towards the now powered up shuttle with everything that the Force could give me to bolster my speed. Bolting up the boarding ramp, I depressed the control panel that would raise the ramp and as I watched it rise and close, I inwardly chastised myself for my foolishness. If I had only been patient, I might not have overdid it – now this ride was going to get a lot bumpier and when the vacuum effect sucked us out of the hanger and into space, I could only hope that we weren't hit by any stray debris.

"Get us up now!" I barked at Bastila as I broke out of my inner monologue. "You'll need to get us close to the door before it breaks – that might buy us a little time to get ahead of the debris."

Bastila's fingers danced across the control panel as I sat down on the co-pilots chair and buckled myself in, "Wouldn't it be dangerous to do that – what makes you so sure that the blast door won't strike us?"

"Gravity, you idiot, that's what makes me so sure that it won't strike us when it breaks," I hissed at her, feeling my own heartbeat rise as I looked out the view port.

As the center of the blast door began to break away, and we still hadn't gotten up – I quickly calculated the odds of us getting up into the air before the door completely broke away inside my head and I groaned in defeat.

"What?" Bastila snapped from beside me, obviously wanting to know why I had just made that noise.

Using the Force to shove her away from the control panel and pin her back into her chair, I held my breath as piece after piece of the blast door gave way and the pull of gravity became stronger, "It's no use, we'll never get there in time."

"I should still get the engines running!" She was obviously indignant at my actions of pushing her backwards, but the compulsion effect prevented her from disobeying.

"Shut up and brace yourself," My annoyance was not born from her actions, they were born from mine – but she was the only one to take them out on right now.

* * *

I once had the dubious pleasure of piloting a fighter whose inertial dampeners had failed in mid-battle.

I had been on a lot of wild rides in my life and all of the battles that I had fought, but it was safe to say that that particular battle had been the most difficult that I had ever fought. Having to outrun and entire squadron of Mandalorian sub-fighters in a situation where I could feel every twist and turn was something that I would never forget – well, I forgot some of it. The moment that I made it back into the hanger bay of the command ship, I vomited and blacked out – and when I woke up several hours later, I found that I couldn't walk straight for an hour afterwards. I didn't think, in my wildest dreams, that I would ever experience anything like that again, I promised myself that I wouldn't – but here I was again, doing it once again. I could note a few differences though, I wasn't in control of the shuttle – when the blast door broke away, we were sucked out in the vacuum of space faster than I could blink and we were currently spiraling out of the hanger in horribly fast speed.

"You are mad! Has anyone ever told you that!" Bastila screamed from beside me as she held onto her chair with an iron grip.

I tried to brace myself with the Force, but I was finding it harder and harder to do so, as we swung in an involuntary barrel roll, I rolled my eyes at her screaming and gritted my teeth, "You're not the first to tell me that."

And I didn't know if was a blessing in disguise that the spiraling stopped, because I was very close to vomiting, but when a loud crashing sound echoed through the shuttle from the starboard side and I was ripped from my chair, I knew it wasn't.

I didn't even have time to think of what happened before I was slammed face first into the control panel and proceeded to fade from consciousness.

* * *

My return to consciousness was marked by a pained and very loud groan.

I'd suffered many injuries in my life, but there was nothing like head injuries and though I suffered quite a lot of them in my time, I would have to say that taking header into a control panel was a highlight. Swallowing to try and wet my throat, I very slowly picked my head up and looked up through the main viewport. Though my vision was a little hazy, I was able to note that there was no debris around us and that indicated that we must have been drifting for hours. The second thing that I was able to note, and by far the most important, was the fact that we were clearly in dead space, meaning that there were no planets, no asteroid fields and no spatial bodies of any kind around us. This was trouble, I didn't remember the exact specifications on this type of shuttle, but we couldn't be able to stay on this thing for an extended period of time – not when we were missing a wing and certainly not when we didn't have a hyper-drive. Hopefully the navicomputer was still working.

Pushing myself up from the panel, I immediately hissed in pain and fell back into the co-pilots chair, grasping my ankle.

This was not good.

When I put pressure on my left ankle, the sharp pain that ran up it was nearly unbearable and it would probably take a daylong healing trance for me to able to even walk on it without falling over in pain.

"Bastila," I croaked as I lowered my leg and turned to look for her. "Bastila?"

I would forever contend that the only reason that I felt panic and fear was for the adverse side effects that the bond between us brought – the sight of her lying face down, under the control panel would naturally bring out that reaction in me.

But as I lowered myself out of the chair and got down on all fours and began to crawl over to her on my hands and knees, I knew the real reason why I was feeling fear.

And that was also not good – it wasn't good because I didn't care for my wellbeing at that point.

I only cared about hers.

_Not_ good.

 


	10. Chapter Nine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan and Bastila crash on a primitive planet -- a storm approaches for the natives

**Revan's Point of View**

I had not suffered through all that I had suffered in my captivity with the Jedi to have her die on me – I did not want to lose when I was so close to winning. I did have a vested interest in keeping her alive, luckily for her she possessed a power that only the Grand Master of the Jedi Order herself had the ability to use and one that I desired to have at my disposal very deeply. There was also the matter of the bond between us – our lives, our power and our sanity was bound to each other as long as I deemed it necessary. The bond, while it carried a lot of risk, also carried a touch of serendipity for our current situation. While she was under the compulsion, I could order her body to begin healing itself and will her mind into a healing trance. The only catch was that I had to supplement the energy that that rate of healing required with my own energy, I would have to keep a constant watch over and periodically feed her energy through the Force itself, or she'd be in big trouble.

She was extraordinarily blessed to be in this situation with me, I possessed skills and abilities that most Jedi did not have and I had abilities that would probably save our lives.

Probably.

Holding my hand over her forehead, I shut my eyes and willed her body to begin the process of healing any damage that it might have sustained during our escape from that ship. I'd already cleaned the cut that she had received and placed the only bacta-patch in board over it – but this was for the internal damage. I sensed no life threatening injuries and though that was the best thing that could come out of this entire situation, I wasn't going to completely deem her free. To make a long story short, I was exhausted, I had run the gauntlet for the past twelve hours and I was far too tired to be completely sure in my healing abilities. There was nothing that I could do to assure myself though – so I had to rely on my powers and trust in them or simply hope, which was foolish entirely – hope was overrated. If my powers were to be trusted, then getting her conscious was not as urgent as it would have been if she had sustained a life threatening injury in our little crash.

Reaching down with my free hand to grasp one hers, I intertwined our fingers and willed more energy to her, trying to get her to fall quickly into the healing trance.

When I felt her mind slip into the serenity and the calm of the healing trance, I smiled – she was so cooperative when she was unconscious.

"Very good my dear," I kissed her hand and smiled down at her. "Yes – very good."

She had so much potential and her future was so great and though I would never tell her this, she was far too important to me personally to die. Smiling fondly, I reached down to brush a stray lock of hair behind her hair and sighed – I'd mourn her death if she died here. It was so very rare to find someone with that much raw power waiting below the surface and far too rare to find someone with that power, who had all the right and most amusing qualities. The tempestuous little Jedi had grown on me in our time together and she did deserve so much to die if she were to die, not on a damaged shuttle in open space after hitting her head on a control panel. When I looked her future, I saw great things, great battles and leadership on her part and I wanted that dream, I wanted that to come true more than anything. She and she alone had everything that I would want in an eventual successor to my mantel and my empire – and it would be a damned shame for that it end.

Setting her hand back down on her chest, I leaned back against the control panel, careful to keep the pressure off of my ankle and finally took a moment to catch my breath and think of my next move.

I had to get the ship moving again and I had to find out where I was, there couldn't possibly be more than three days' worth of oxygen in the reserves and I had to find a planet that was within that time frame. I couldn't possibly get to a planet that was allied to me, there wasn't enough oxygen onboard and we would be limping along anyway. If the planet that I encountered was allied to the Republic, then I would go there and call for reinforcements and assistance. The most favorable option for me was to get to a planet that was neutral, where violence and credits ruled – I had no credits, but I had my lightsabers and my powers and that would be enough for a holocom message that was recorded and sent to the very right people.

The worst thing that could happen at this point was finding a planet that was uninhabited – with no civilization and no technology, or a primitive one that hadn't caught up to the rest of the Galaxy.

I obviously couldn't afford to be picky in my situation, but if that was the case then I would make due and I would call for my servants through the Force and wait for them to come. The downside to that was that the Jedi would probably be able to hear the call too, I could only hope that they weren't paying attention, like usual, but with my escape and Bastila's abduction, they were albums assuredly listening. That was a risk that I would have to take probably. I had one functioning part of an engine, with no hyperdrive, three days' worth of oxygen, no food and an injured hostage. I needed to get to a planet and if it was uninhabited, or backwards, I would have to risk the Jedi coming – let them come, I would destroy them all for this.

* * *

**Forn Dodonna's Point of View**

"So they've escaped," I wanted final clarification before I went to the Supreme Chancellor. "How did he manage to escape when we locked that ship down?!"

I trusted the Jedi, I did – and their wisdom usually had a value that was insurmountable in most combat situations, but they had been proven wrong so far in terms of the length and the depth of Revan's powers. The monster had managed to choke me through the holocom, I did not quite believe that it would be possible for that to happen, but when I felt my throat tighten and my heart rate quicken, it was just as if he had actually put his hands around my throat. They said that he was not that powerful! I had trusted their words and it nearly got me killed. I trusted their judgment even more and I now over three fourths of the crew of one of my best capital ship was dead and the ship itself was heavily damaged. One of the greatest Jedi of the entire order was dead and our secret weapon was missing, presumed to be in Revan's hold. This situation could not be any worse, the captivity of Revan had seemed like a good idea, but I should have had him executed while I had the chance.

"Our sentry ships are reporting that the hanger bay has been breached, they found the fragmented portions of the blast door drifting not far from the ship," The young lieutenant answered hesitantly and I felt my lips curl in distaste. This was part of the reason that I didn't even bother to learn names anymore. If they didn't have a backbone, then they weren't worth my time. "They've accounted for all of the shuttles and fighters in the hanger bay, except one, and they can't seem to locate it."

Then that was where they were – now it was a matter of simply finding them, "What type of shuttle were they on?"

"Class V," The young man answered. "That's the shuttle that's missing."

I felt a certain amount of vindictive glee at his words – those weren't meant for long range travel, meaning that they couldn't have gotten far, provided that they weren't dead. If I dispatched a fleet to begin coming all of the space that they could have covered since their escape, then we could find them – with no hyperdrive it would be easy. I would make that bastard pay, I would rend him so the entire galaxy could see and I would make him answer for every death that he had caused.

"Get Vice-Admiral Lacuan with the 9th Fleet," I ordered, turning on my heels and marching in the opposite direction.

If Lacuan's fleet wasn't sufficient, I would send more.

I would find him.

* * *

**Kenual's Point of View**

The Nerf were restless.

There was an ominous omen in the air that was doing it, I was sure of that. I'd already been forced to go into the forest and get them back where I could see them. The Theurgists advisors to my father had been warning him of a coming doom for weeks now - a dark shadow that would come upon the tribe in the coming weeks and spell disaster for our family's rule. The thought itself seemed impossible, our family had been ruling the tribe for one hundred uninterrupted lunar cycles and the thought of it breaking that pattern was completely absurd, at first anyway. For weeks, the seers had been haunted by visions and nightmares of a darkly shrouded man, carrying spears of blood and what chilled their bones the most was what the man did in their collective visions. The theurgists were unsure of the catalyst, but the visions of the man slaughtering my father's finest warriors and holding the entire village hostage were enough to put all of us on edge, including the our animals.

Even now, the Theurgists were preparing to do battle with the dark man - they surmised that he too was in touch with the power of the gods - they had surmised that he was an avid practitioner of those arts. If he did come, then they were our only defense against him as the only users of the art in the entire tribe. A select few had even theorized that the dark man was a harbinger of the will of the divine - a punishment for our youth rapidly moving away from the practices of the older ages. Those fools were summarily banished into the forest and forced to go to another village to survive. My father was a very caring leader and though it might be a touch foolish, he did not want to believe that this coming threat was punishment for the actions of our young ones because, by extension, it would be punishment for his actions and for the liberal ways that he had taken in governing, not at all. I wanted to believe that too - considering that I was a member of that age group.

Gripping my spear tighter as I stood up from the watch rock - I whistled to summon the beasts.

We would deal with that when the time came and if in fact the dark man was an omen from the gods, then we would deal with him.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

This planet had no official designation from the Republic Senate or my government.

When I had managed to get the navicomputer up and running, I discovered that I was familiar with this area for three reasons – there were three habitable planets in this system and they were marked as planets that we could use as jumping off points in our final invasion of the core of the Republic. However, there was something in Republic records that I was surprised that were not in my own governments records. Apparently, a Republic Census unit had determined that on one of these three planets, a planet with the designation of MR-ISB83, there was a small population of humans living north of the equatorial line on the western most continent. Surveillance suggested that these primitive humans had only recently moved into using agriculture and had only started living in villages. This planet was deemed to be protected and left alone until they were advanced enough in the culture, but not for my purposes, it suited my purposes exactly and the coordinates were there.

As the jewel of a planet came into view, I smiled.

A bunch of pathetic natives – I would be ruling this planet in days.

 


	11. Chapter Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan uses his methods to obtain information as Bastila sleeps

**Revan's Point of View**

My luck was extraordinarily sound.

With my arm clutched around Bastila's waist and my lightsabers in the other, I paddled numbly to the shore of the lake. All the while, I was attempting to calm my breathing and my heart from what just happened to me. I had experienced precisely two crash landings since I first learned how to pilot a vessel. The first experience was one that I frankly couldn't remember at all. All that I could remember was that one moment I was leaving the Capital Ship and approaching the planet in my snub-fighter, and then blackness. All that I could remember afterwards was waking up on a medical bed, back onboard that capital ship. I spent the next month back on Dantoonie, learning to walk again after my injuries.

The second time involved me being shot down over Dxun – which involved me limping out of the cockpit and fighting off several enemy soldiers. I spent the next week after that bathing in pure Bacta and off of the field. It was that experience that forever changed the way I planned, fought and participated in battles. Always go for the air support and aerial defenses before sending in fighters and pound the enemy defensive line with orbital bombardments. It was ironic – I had changed the way battles were fought to prevent crash landings to ever happen to me again. The one thing I never counted on was the occasional accident – like this for example, but I was extraordinarily lucky once again in this landing.

If I had entered the atmosphere even a few degrees northward, the last thing I would have ever seen in this existence was a mountain range. If I had entered the atmosphere by any other degree, I would have plowed right into a field. Yes, as much as I didn't mean for it to happen, landing the ship in a lake was a stroke of serendipity that I would not question.

No matter how much landings like that frightened me to the bone.

We had nothing.

We had my weapons, the clothes on our backs and that was it.

The first rule of survival training was to take stock of all of the resources that were available to you on hand and frankly, I wished that I hadn't done that. I could not get to the medical supply cache in time, and get out of the rapidly sinking ship without drowning, it simply was not possible. When I looked back to the lake, I growled in frustration – even if I could get back down there, there was no telling if the supplies were damaged. I could not risk going down there right now, not with Bastila in her trance, not without someone watching for me.

Or her for that matter.

I looked up into the forest and let a light scowl come across my face.

The giant wall of trees surrounding the shore teemed with life in the Force.

And danger.

It was on the periphery of my awareness, but I could still feel it there, lurking – not with necessarily murderous intent and it was not directed at either Bastila or myself, but it was there. I could make out one thing about it though – we were being watched by something.

I was not sure if it was the natives or an animal, but either way, it was intelligent.

Grunting and forcing myself to stand up, I grasped one of my lightsabers and activated it.

All the while, I was radiating my own anger and irritation into the Force – warding off any beast or native that was sensitive in the Force. Gripping my weapon in both hands, I took a long, surveying look across the tree line and only deactivated my weapon when I felt the presence in my awareness shrink and finally disappear. Tactics like that would not work in most situations, but on this planet and in the middle of a forest, it would buy me time.

Time is what I needed most in this situation.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

My head was aching.

I had experienced my fair share of bumps and scrapes in my time with the Jedi, but I could very easily say that I had never experienced a pain like this before. Keeping my eyes clenched shut, because I was sure that the pain would increase tenfold when I opened them, I felt around to the ground beside me and tried to find some semblance of where I was at. The last thing that I remembered was spinning out of control in that damn shuttle.

"Oh good," Revan's voice was flat – he sounded preoccupied. "You're awake."

Leaning back, I relaxed my body, without opening my eyes and let out a pained groan.

His resulting chuckle would have made my blood boil with anger if I weren't so utterly distracted by the pain in my head, "I placed you in a healing trance when you sustained your injury – you have no life threatening injuries, and your headache should subside."

His voice was low, quiet – and flat.

He sounded bored.

And for some reason, that annoyed me more than anything.

Opening my eyes, I recoiled from the sting and I was immediately met by the soft, orange hues of what could only be a fire. Turning my head slightly, I squinted at the sight before me and it was something that I thought I would never see. There sat Revan, on a log, staring at the fire – and above the fire, suspended in midair, was meat, impaled on a stick.

I could not believe my eyes – it was, perhaps, the most frivolous use of the Force that I had ever seen in my life. He couldn't have been bothered to construct a decent rotisserie – he was using the Force as a means to cook! It was a petty and small thing to become upset about, but I could not help it. He just sat there, spinning his finger, turning the meat.

"Such a waste," I commented, before shutting my eyes and trying to get comfortable.

At least he had taken the time to construct a "bed" for me – it didn't matter if it was made out of harvested plants.

"Would you prefer we starve to death?" Revan replied dryly.

"Who taught you to use the Force like that – it's utterly wasteful!" I shot back at him, ignoring the flare up of pain in my skull. I was tired of suffering through his arrogance and his grandiose ideas that violated every pillar of everything that I had ever been taught.

His derisive snort only served to anger me further, "The Force is not a finite resource Bastila, it is infinite, it is everything and it is everlasting – using it to cook food is hardly going to destroy it. Whoever taught you otherwise is a fool, the very definition of a fool."

I wanted to scream at him that he was wrong! That every blasted thing that came out of his mouth was wrong, and that he should respect my teachers. However, there was a side of me that had to agree, if only for the fact that he was right about our current predicament.

"We wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you," I hissed lowly at him.

"Did you really think that I would sit back and let them imprison me? Did you really think that I would suffer through Dantoonie, and  _endless_  prattle of the Masters for nothing?" His voice hadn't changed in its tone, which meant that he was humoring me, again. "This was not the preferred outcome, but I much prefer this one to rotting in the bowls of the temple."

I could kill him.

I could kill him in his sleep and the galaxy would be forever better for it.

"Careful," His voice was light and to the untrained ear, it could possibly be misconstrued as amusement – but I knew better. There was the slightest hint of an unbreakable and uncompromising layer of durasteel in the foundation of his voice. Even in my weakened state, I could feel warning and power radiating from him. "That's very unbecoming of a Jedi to take such a murderous mentality you might find yourself on a very slippery slope."

"You're too dangerous to live!" I hissed back at him.

And that was the moment that I crossed the line with him and he made that point perfectly clear as I felt myself rise from the ground, lifted by some invisible force. I could feel tendrils of the Force pulling me upwards and when I looked back to Revan, he was glaring at me.

It was perhaps the most intimating glare that I had ever faced in my life – it was pure, unadulterated power that radiated from his eyes. To make matters even more chilling, as I drew closer, I noticed that his eyes had become orange. From the moment that I had seen his eyes for the first time, they had been their customary shade of brown. That had been a notable mystery to myself and the Masters, but now – they were the color I had expected them to be. Had that been a lie as well? Had he been concealing his true features from us?

With the meat still spinning over the fire, obviously held in the grip of Revan's powers too, he stood up from the log and approached me very slowly, with fire raging in his eyes.

"And how would you do it," He hissed lowly at me, getting so close to me that our noses were touching. "Would you strangle me? Would you drown me, would you stab me?"

In the deepest, darkest pit of my soul, I found all of those options agreeable.

Before I could even supply him with an answer, his hand shot out and grasped my chin tightly. It wasn't a painful hold, not in the slightest, but when he angled my head so that our eyes contacted, I knew what its purpose was instantly, "I have been given powers that you could not possibly imagine. It would be wise not to underestimate me. I am very rarely caught unaware – and I have long learned to never let my guard down around you."

He released my chin with a slight push, "This is my only warning Bastila, the only time I will ever warn you, do not attempt it – you will not like the results and I'll be forced to punish you."

And with a flick of his hand, I fell down in a heap.

"Eat," He commanded lowly, not bothering to look at me. "And get some rest."

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

It was a human – at least from what I could discern in the dark.

I had been woken up from a well-deserved sleep by a tingling of my danger senses and when I probed my awareness, I found that the same watchful eyes from earlier had returned to our little encampment.

It stoked my curiosity, most certainly – and under the cover of the Force, I moved around the presence and behind it, in the forest – to hunt our apparent hunter.

Bastila's earlier words had indeed set my anger off and I knew, that someone, I'd take it out on this poor fool.

Perched up on a tree branch, far above the spy, it was only through the power of the Force that I hadn't fallen down and it was only thorough the power of the Force that I wasn't feeling the pain in my ankle.

I was going to use every advantage I had to make sure I caught this fool.

I watched the spy crouch down into a sitting position and smiled.

I had him and when I knew that he could not escape me easily, I  _pounced_.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan and Bastila come to blows on their trek to the natives

**Revan's Point of View**

Grasping his throat with both of my hands, I used the Force to bring the scout slowly to the ground and penetrate his mind. I didn't care if he could speak in a language I could understand or not, I was in no mood to tolerate lies and ultimately the only way I could ensure that I got the truth from the man was if I went into his mind. I needed to find where he came from, and I needed to gain a grasp of how strong they were. As the man passed into unconsciousness, our eye contact was broken when the spear in his right hand clattered to the ground.

The pointed tip looked to be nothing but common rock and the spear itself was made out of wood. I smirked and looked back to the man again, their only advantage over me would be the numbers game. If I demonstrated my powers to them, they would probably submit to me without much of a fight. The painted markings on the man's face suggested a primitive culture - one that could easily be swayed into believing in gods and the supernatural.

Closing my eyes, I focused my awareness in the Force onto the man and pressed forward.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

The sound of grunting shocked me awake, and when I turned my head towards the source of the noise, I opened my eyes and gawked openly at the sight. I would have to be a fool not to find Revan attractive, he obviously was - the issue was that he knew he was attractive and it only added to his generally odious personality. His vanity was something that drove me insane, he was perhaps the most vain person that I had ever met in my life.

"I'm not vain," Revan panted as he rested his hands against his knees. "I'm simply bored."

Evidently, I had been so caught up in my inner monologue that I had failed to realize that Revan could easily read my mind.

Doing one handed pushups, with most of his body in the air, and obviously assisted by the Force, was not something that normal people did. Then again, in his entire life, Darth Revan had never, ever been what everyday people would define as normal.

"How long had you been doing that?" I couldn't help but ask as I sat up from my makeshift cot.

I would never give him the satisfaction of knowing how grateful I was that he allowed me to sleep on his upper tunic, instead of the cold hard ground.

He looked up and grinned at me - it seemed that the stoic, serious and possibly homicidal Revan from the events of the past few days was now gone. In his place was the flirty, impetuous, carefree Lord of the Sith that I had grown to know over the past few weeks.

"About ten minutes, give or take a few minutes in of a margin of error," He winked and then walked over to sit on his log. "And don't worry about your little attraction to me, I think it's cute - of course it will never happen, I don't think that I could get used to you, _at all_  really."

I felt my blood begin boil again, "The utter presumption that I would ever consider-..."

He scowled slightly and held up a finger to stop me, and it took all of my willpower to try and keep my eyes away from his heaving, tanned and toned chest. I wouldn't prove him right, I wouldn't - I could resist this, I was a Jedi - this was simply a side effect of being around him far too much. Once I managed to get away, this attraction would subside.

"Relax, I could have you if I wanted to have you," He rested his chin in his hand and braced arm on his knee, before spying me with an amused look. "And no, I would never assault you, or whatever horrific thing you're thinking I mean by that. I mean that if I really wanted you, I could have you, in whatever function that I deem fit, and I don't want you like  _that_."

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

What the girl failed to understand was that I had impulse control with her.

In my younger days, more specifically, when I was in her same exact position in life, I was young, I had my fun. As I grew, I had more serious relationships, if you could call them that and I had plenty of experience. I was aesthetically blessed, I was aware of this - but even without that, I found that beings of the opposite sex couldn't resist confidence, they couldn't resist compassion and, the more seedier members of the opposite sex, couldn't resist power.

I had plenty of that - all of that.

This girl was young, and I didn't need to touch her to know that she would not be able to resist me if I went after her. I could make her pant, writhe and scream if I touched her in the right places. It didn't matter though, it didn't matter what I could do to her, and it didn't matter what she thought about it. I didn't want her in my bed, I didn't want her under me.

I wanted her to break.

I wanted to her to bow to me.

"You presume too much!" She spat venomously back at me.

I smirked, "You know, I think it's cute when your face get's all scrunched up like a Kinrath Pup."

As she pulled herself up from her cot, she stomped her feet, screamed and blushed in that order and stomped away - presumably to calm down. Either way, I made sure to keep a lock on her presence as I turned away from her rapidly retreating form and looked back west. I had no idea how long it would take to get to that village, but I intended to find out and if she and I had to walk day and night to get to it, then we would do just that.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

He still wouldn't put on the tunic.

We had been walking for quite some time now and in that entire time, all I could do was stare at his tanned back as we moved. I hadn't the faintest idea where he was taking me, and when I asked him - he simply told me to trust him and that was that. As much as it went against my very nature to trust him - I had no choice at this point, I had to trust him.

Besides, he had given no indication that he was going to harm me at all.

In fact...

When a crashing sound in the forest beside the trail interrupted our quiet peace, I was quite surprised to find myself forced behind him. As the sound grew nearer, I watched as Revan raised his hand, and slowly, but surely, slammed it forward. The resulting ripple in the Force caused a crash through the forest and after a few seconds, I heard another crashing sound farther out. However, it wasn't the crashing that had stumped me, it was Revan's position.

My eyes drifted down to protective barrier that Revan had formed around me.

The power that he was radiating through the Force was palpable and if I was sensing it correctly, it was radiated around me in a protective shield. However, as fast as I felt it, I felt it vanish and when Revan turned to meet me, I locked eyes with him. What I found there was a look on frustration and a look that told me that he was weighing his options.

Then he sighed and reached down to his belt to pull off... my  _lightsaber_.

"I'm going to give this back to you, and I'm giving it back to you under the assumption that you are going to use it to defend yourself against the little creatures that we may encounter in this  _charming_ forest." Revan sneered and took a disdainful look around, before he promptly forced my weapon into my hand. "But I'm warning you, my dear Bastila, that if you attempt to fight me, I will have no choice but to punish you, and I can assure you t-..."

I rolled my eyes, "You don't need to threaten me, I may completely loathe you-..."

I cast a completely purposeful up and down glance at him from head to toe and gave him my best sneer, "... but I have every reason to keep the peace between us,  _for the moment_."

He narrowed his eyes, and I watched as he opened his mouth to say something - and then the strangest thing happened, he narrowed his eyes and shook his head. That was all he said to me as he turned on his heels and began his walk up the path.

"Keep up!" He shouted to me over his shoulder.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

I hated forests.

I hated jungles over every environment that I had ever been in, but forests were right up there next to it. Gritting my teeth as I slashed my way through the brush with my lightsaber, with Bastila following close behind, I made a note to incinerate this planet once I returned to my forces. Of course, I would be willing to admit that this was one for the record books, but I had gotten myself out of worse before and I would come out of this.

"Will you answer me this time! Where are we going and when do you think we can rest for water, and perhaps a little sleep?" She asked from behind me, and I was sure that the only reason that she wasn't screaming at me right now was because she was utterly exhausted.

Pathetic child.

She did not know the meaning of exhaustion.

"We're only a few hours from our destination," I turned my head slightly to answer her, but I purposely didn't look her in the eye. "Just focus on the task at hand, don't become weak."

I expected better from a Jedi Apprentice, I wouldn't have expected one to complain about heat, or exhaustion or even water.

I rolled my eyes and pressed on, even as Bastila continued to complain at the periphery of my hearing. The main encampment that the scout had come from was some distance from here, but I was sure that I would be able to cover that distance in enough time before the sun set. I did not want to be traveling under the cover of darkness, there was no telling what sort of creatures and vegetation were out here.

The sound of a lightsaber igniting interrupted my thoughts and stopped me in my tracks.

"Where are we going?!" Bastila demanded again - with more of a roar in her voice.

I forcibly loosened the tension in my back, and exhaled deeply, in some sort of feeble attempt to calm myself down. I didn't know why my tolerance with her was low, perhaps it was the heat, the mud, or the fact that ever since we left the lake that we had crashed in, the girl had not stopped whining at all. Now she was "threatening" me - trying to coerce me into telling her the location. I really wasn't sure if I was more amused or irritated by that.

Turning around, I narrowed my eyes at her fighting stance, her wide set legs and the fire in her eyes. When I probed her awareness in the Force, I found something odd - and yet, very, very pleasing. Her anger, her impatience and her rage were all leaking from her and though I couldn't be sure, I would wager that it had to do with the situation that we were in.

Trapped on a backwater world, having subpar food, no heat at night and too much heat in the day.

And of course there was the issue of water.

The average human could not survive three days without water.

Eight days, in some cases ten were known in some cases.

However, factoring in our mutual Force Sensitivity, I would estimate that we could perhaps go two weeks without water, however - I would not want to find out. We wouldn't be away from water for that much longer, if we kept walking, we could reach the encampment by nightfall.

If we kept walking that is.

"Are you prepared to raise your blade to me?" My left eyebrow rose in mild boredom.

She brought her lightsaber up into a defensive stance.

Fine.

I scowled slightly as I grabbed both of my lightsabers from my belt and activated them with a sharp motion. This would delay our arrival at the camp for quite some time, but if she wanted to insist on this - I would have choice but to accommodate it, foolishness aside.

Lowering my off-hand blade to my center and raising my main blade above my head, I angled my knees in standard Jar'Kai form. Smirking at the slight imperceptible look of offence over my implied indifference to her threat - I nodded at the girl.

I'd let her have the first move.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

His strength was something to be feared.

I understood that, I think I had always understood that, but it was never something that I had to face myself. I had witnessed it when he killed Master Vrook - but he had never brought that strength against me directly. His blocking, strikes and stance were unmatchable and they were utterly relentless. The only reason that I hadn't been defeated yet was because of my dual weapon, it managed to allow me some sort of minor protection.

That protection didn't mean much though, not with his constant battering of both sides of my weapon. He was methodical in his utter decimation of my ability to fend off his attacks, and it would only grow worse. Not for the conventional reasons of course, but for a single kick that I managed to land in his midsection, that was all that it took to unleash an inner beast.

I drew my weapon back up into a defensive stance as I watched Revan recover from my kick and then slowly rise up to face me. The look in his eye was nothing short of murder and with a bone chilling scream, he rushed forward, his weapons at his side. I stood there, utterly transfixed, as one of his feet came directly at my face. The painful impact knocked me off of my feet and caused me to fly backwards, straight into the dirt of the trail.

Grunting as I hit the ground and rolled even further, I felt my lightsaber ripped out of my grasp.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

Straightening up, I looked down to her crumpled form and growled - I knew that she was awake, and I knew that she would hear me. I wanted her to understand something, I needed her to understand that I did not like to harm her - I took no pleasure in it. She and I were linked, in more ways than my forced bond could explain. I could foresee that our destinies were linked and had been linked forever since she captured me on my flagship.

I could not reveal this to her - but not only did it physically pain me to harm her.

It made me sad to hurt her.

"You don't get it! You have yet to understand the fact that I am the best!" I screamed at her, my anger not lessoning, not one bit. "You cannot defeat me! Your pathetic Jedi dogma is nothing compared to my will! And if you ever raise your weapon again to me, you had better be prepared to win! Now since you were so hell bent on getting us to stop, I am going to build us a camp and let you remain in the dirt to think this over, where you belong!"

I turned my head stomped off.

My anger had utterly destroyed my patience and whatever got in my way would face the consequence.

* * *

**Admiral Varrow's Point of View**

Interesting.

Very interesting.

I had made the choice to keep the information on Lord Revan close to the vest, we couldn't afford to make the Republic aware that we were indeed aware. As far as they knew, we were under the assumption that Darth Revan was dead and nothing more. With our military retreat behind our borders and the fortification of said borders, and the halt ordered on all campaigns, they were under the impression that we were recovering from the death of the leader. I was letting the Empire believe that as well, only a few beings new the truth.

"You understand the details?" I asked the Dark Jedi before my desk.

"Yes," They all replied unison.

The members of Lord Revan's elite guard were loyal and would remain loyal to the end, that was what they existed for - and they understood that. Their one job, their only job, was to serve the Dark Lord and to protect him when he needed it. Other than our spies in Republic Naval Command, everyone in the Empire that knew that Lord Revan was alive was here.

"You are to go this system, you are to comb every planet, every population center and use whatever means the Force grants you to bring Lord Revan home," I commanded them as I stepped away from the window and folded my hands behind my back. "I'm authorizing you to use whatever means necessary to silence obstacles - and to keep your identity secret."

I raised a finger to them, "None can know that we are aware that Lord Revan is alive, and you are to kill anyone who learns of your identities and who will report it back to them."

"Understood?" I asked them.

They nodded.

"Good," I turned away from them. "Now go."

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

She was watching me.

Her eyes had never left me, not since I sunk into my "meditation" - she hadn't once moved her attentions off of me. It unnerved me terribly, it made me want to pull myself out of my trance, grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she stopped. Was she going to expect me to apologize to her? She wasn't going to stop whining until I put a stop to all of it. What other choice did I have but to put a stop to it like I did?! She did get the message.

"I know you can hear me," Bastila spoke softly. "Open your eyes, damn it!"

"No," I hissed at her and refocused my awareness.

"Yes," She pressed on and I could hear the slightly rustle in the dirt as she stood up and rapidly came upon me. "For as long as I've known you, you've been nothing but deflective, snarky, flirty, arrogant, self-important, rude, barbaric - and a little insane. You owe an explanation, you owe the explanation as to where we are going and what we are doing."

That opened my eyes to say the least.

"I don't owe you a damned thing," I whispered slowly at her. "You are in no position to have any knowledge - and you are in no position to command any knowledge from me,  _my dear_."

"Don't you talk down to me you arrogant fool," She commanded, as if I was going to listen to her. "I am not some child, I am not some foolish little Padawan that can't tie their boots."

I smirked, "That's exactly what you are."

"Shut-...!"

"No," I rose up to my feet in a flash and held a finger up to her lips. "I mean this literally, if you knew, what I know - about everything, about the whole divide against Jedi and Sith, Light and Dark, Republic and Empire, you wouldn't be so quick to label me something..."

And I promptly shut my mouth as I revealed something too sensitive, something that she was not supposed to know. I couldn't very well tear the information that she had just heard from her mind, but really - I did consider taking methods to get her to forget what she had just heard. All of them were more painful than the last options, and once again, I didn't...

I didn't want to harm her...

"Then why don't you tell me," Her voice had quieted down to a tolerable level.

"It's none of your concern," I replied - purposely quieting my voice down to match hers, in both its tone and volume. It might have come off as patronizing, but that wasn't the purpose at all. "Let's just say that this is above your pay grade and it's my responsibility."

I turned away from her an sunk back down onto my knees.

Forcibly willing myself back into my trance, I put all thoughts of the girl out of my mind.

* * *

**Chief Olska's Point of View**

I could feel the Dark One's approach.

It weighed heavily on the back of my mind and every hour, every minute that dragged on towards his arrival, increased my anxiety and fear tenfold. My advisors had told me to fortify the village, prepare for his arrival and prepare to fight to him to the death. For all intents and purposes, it seemed like a sound plan - after all, this was just one man and we were many. Our archers were the best in the hemisphere, if they couldn't defeat him...

Then no one could.

And if the priests were to be listened to - then that had already happened.

The hopelessness was something that I was not used to - not at all, I was the most powerful man in the province and my word was law. If the Gods sent a harbinger of their wrath-incarnate, what good was his word? What good were his choices? What good was his will? This wasn't doing well for his confidence. This could spell the end of his rule forever.

His family had been ruling over this province for 300 consecutive cycles.

Somehow, he knew that end was approaching.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

"No," I replied with a bit of a laugh in my voice. "Contrary to what their reputation, the Mandalorian Clans are not barbarians, most of them anyway. They live by an honor code that is sometimes strenuous to abide by, but it's generally it's tolerable, easy to live by."

It was fairly interesting to see how easily we were getting along.

The night before we were ready to bite each other's heads off.

"I was always led to believe-..." Bastila replied as we walked over the trail.

"That they were savage brutes, bent on raping and pillaging the civilized galaxy? Oh you give me too much credit," I sent her a bright smile as we walked up the trail. "That was what I wanted the galaxy at-large to think, the act of fighting a war is much easier when the public at large believes that the enemy is as monstrous as can be. A united Republic would withstand a siege from the clans, and a fractured Republic would have opened-..."

"...it up to conquest," Bastila finished my sentence for me.

I turned back to her and smiled - intending on making a smart comeback at her apparent revelation. However, she had stopped walking and now she was staring slack-jawed at something ahead of us. Turning back around and following her line of sight, I blanched.

I had to admit that it was a brilliant sight to see.

And it was far more advanced then I had expected.

I would have expected to see something of a massive wooden defensive emplacement around the village, not stone. Stone couldn't be burned and it wasn't as easy to destroy and move. On the other side of the stone fortress, I could sense the bustling presence of tens of thousands of lives in the village. Now it was a matter of the most practical tactical approach.

"This is what you've been leading us too?" Bastila asked as she stepped up behind me.

I nodded - considering my options.

I was not sure how far the stone wall went or if it circled the village entirely, and if it did, how long it would take to get there. There were also two other options, other than the one that Bastila would advocate. There was the power of stealth and surprise, I could use that to my advantage, sneak into the compound, find the leader, hold him and his family hostage.

"Don't even think about it," Bastila warned from behind me. "We do this legitimately."

"Okay," I turned and smiled devilishly at her. "I go in there and legitimately take over."

She glared at me and I felt my resolve weaken.

Surprisingly.

"Oh fine," I growled and looked back to survey what looked like the main gate.

If I got shot in the side by an arrow - I would never forgive her for it.

 


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan and Bastila make first contact with the natives -- and first impressions are not always the best.

**Revan's Point of View**

They were human.

Curious to say the least.

It was the general consensus amongst the scientific community of the entire galaxy that all planets with native human civilizations were advanced, or at the very lead had attained the ability to travel in space. The oral traditions of many native species throughout the Galaxy suggested that humanity had long ago been spread throughout by their subjugation to the Infinite Empire. This one though, they hadn't even developed the ability to harness electricity, and it raised a plethora of scientific questions within my mind, ones that I doubted these people could have answers for. Questions of their origins aside, it still made me insatiably curious about their culture and how they had managed to stay completely hidden. How did they do it? How far were they in their advancement? What was their use?

All populations had their uses to a certain extent, and even as Bastila and I advanced on what appeared to be a entrance gate to their massive stone wall, with every intention of being diplomatic - I was already calculating my next move. How long would it take for a garrison of troops to penetrate the wall surrounding their city? Would a hypersonic weapon destroy the wall completely without the use of troops? Only time, and swift observations would tell. I would have to observe troop strength, not to mention the strength of the city.

"You are entering the realm of Olska the Great! State your name and business!" My eyes were drawn up to the top of the gate entrance to the imposing solider standing atop the walkway. A thick plating of armor surrounded the man and he carried in his right hand a heavy spear. If thrown just right, a spear like that could easily kill someone, and even though I could probably stop the spear before it became a threat, it made me very wary.

"I am Darth Revan, ruler of the Galaxy and Lord of the Ancient Order of the Sith Lords, this is my companion, Bastila Shan, disciple of the Jedi Order," I extended a hand to my right and then looked back up to the man. "Our ship was damaged in space and we crashed onto your planet, we urgently require your valuable assistance, I must speak with your King!"

From what I could see, the man scowled, "You would expect me to grant you access to the realm on the basis of a farfetched story. You claim to come from the stars themselves! If that is not reason enough to deny you passage! Turn around now, or we will be forced t-..."

I was long past the point of being nice, and when I raised my hand, and sent an arc of lighting purposely past the man's head. If I had been out to kill him, or perhaps in a very bad mood, I might have even electrocuted him. To a people that had not even conceptualized the fact that there was more to existence then their own world and their own pitiful lives, that would be an ability that perhaps only gods could accomplish. I was hardly a god, but I was the closest thing that these people would probably ever see in their lives.

"You will do as I say!" I demanded, raising my voice with the enhancement of the Force.

When all that met my demand was silence, I clinched my fists and turned to deliver an angry stare onto the Jedi next to me. It was only for her that I was showing them even this small mercy. If she had not been here, that man would have been dead the moment he dared to talk down to me, literally. If she had not been here, I would be, at this very moment, cutting through their defenses and making my way inside to find their leader.

"Revan," Bastila warned me.

"That was the safest demonstration that I could give him," I defended myself and turned my nose up at her haughtily. "I could do much so worse to him, the poor fool is very fortunate."

Even as the giant wooden door in front of us creaked open slowly, I knew that his fortune was practically infinite. No, I wasn't happy that the fool had opened the door for us, I was in fact, greatly irritated, because as the door began to swing outwards, I saw several figures begin to jump from the top of the wall. Common sense, as well as the chill of my danger senses against my spine, told me that this was not going to be the greeting Bastila wanted.

"Bastila?" I asked her as I summoned my lightsaber to my hand and activated it with a snap-hiss. Somehow, I knew that this was going to happen the moment Bastila told me to do this  _legitimately_ , and frankly I was kind of amused to feel a bolt of shock from her. Was she really this naive? I understood how she viewed the Galaxy, but at what point did she understand that at the core, beings were imperfect, vicious and bloodthirsty creatures?

When I heard the sound of her activating her own weapon, I knew that she understood.

Maybe she wasn't as half as naive as I thought she was.

* * *

Cutting through the spear, I brought my foot up to the guard's chest and kicked him backwards into the dirt. Their resolve surprised me, and even though their wooden weapons were virtually useless, they kept fighting. Moving another guard, I noticed Bastila's position out of the corner of my eye and I felt my lips quirk up into a little smirk. She was encountering that same issue that I was with these men. A few of them, the ones that were clothed in some sort of red garment, were displaying a keen affinity for stamina, dexterity and martial arts. They had skillfully evaded the strikes of the lightsabers and our manipulations in the Force, and had managed to get in quite a few blows on the two of us.

Impressive to say the least.

If they had been fighting a fully trained Jedi, or better yet, a Jedi Master, it would be very shocking, but the fact that they were able to do that on Jedi Padawan was no less impressive. I had been taught by the greatest of the teachers throughout the Galaxy, my name sent fear through billions of beings - and yet, a simple band of natives could do this.

It was... unsettling to say the least.

I was the Lord of the Sith.

I wielded the Force with master precision.

And yet, they approached with me no fear in their eyes.

No hesitation.

As another one of the red clothed guards approached me, I deactivated my lightsaber.

I had reached my limit.

And it was time that this ended.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

When the first wave in the Force struck my senses, I stopped and observed.

When the second wave struck my senses, the soldiers that I was fighting stopped as well.

Revan was like power - in that moment, he was power personified and once again I was able to witness his reputation at display. With another wave of his hand, he sent another group of men flying back, and then another, and then another. The screaming and yelling that came from the men that encircled us was only drowned out by the sound of the impact of the men coming into contact with ground and rocks. He was a sight of terrible and awesome power that was magnified into one being, one person carrying all of that power.

"You don't know what a Sith is, do you?" Revan bellowed at the soldiers as he tossed them aside, as if they were merely toys, and not living, breathing beings. With those words, he stopped tossing them around as if they were inanimate objects and in the place of the waves, was electricity. Most people would never have the dubious pleasure of experiencing lighting from the hand of a Sith coursing through their bodies, but once it happened.

They would never forget it.

* * *

**Admiral Varrow's Point of View**

"Lord Revan is alive then?" Darth Voren pressed on with his questioning.

Voren was a rational human Sith Apprentice, I would give him that - and he was a credit to most of the apprentices to leave the Academy on Korriban. He was also exceptionally loyal to Lord Revan and Lord Revan alone. For the past few weeks, he had been leading Lord Revan's personal guard of Dark Jedi in a purge of all unpleasant elements from the government. Most, if not all, of the disgraced former Darth Malak's supporters were gone.

That left but one problem.

The Admiralty.

Lord Revan, as always, had plans for contingency plans, and so on and so forth.

One of his many orders that he had left behind, in the event of his capture, was to put the lower members of the Military Hierarchy under surveillance. If the military could not find unity in the event of his death, or capture, then there was the very real possibility that the Admirals and Generals would take pieces of the massive Sith Military and carve up the Empire for their own means. Their Master had left this plan in place to assure that did not happen - and Darth Voren, in the event of both Malak and Revan's in disposal was to carry it out. If Voren failed, or was incapacitated himself - then the Malachor Sith would do it.

"Sources within Republic Naval Command witnessed him choking Forn Dodonna over the holo-com, after escaping his confinement. Evidently he was in route to the Core after being confined to Dantooine for weeks," I couldn't help but shiver at the sight of the smirk appeared on Voren's face. The Sith's love of the morbid would always chill me. "Those same sources report to me that they found the ship floating adrift in space, the hanger bay had been completely destroyed, life support was minimal, and two thirds of the crew had been slaughtered. They also found the remains of what appeared to be Master Vrook Lamar."

One did not to feel the Force to feel the glee that threatened to burst from him.

"I trust that you want to celebrate his death?" I raised a single eyebrow.

Voren smiled evilly and nodded, "You assume correctly Admiral, however, I need to postpone the occasion for another time. My spies within the Admiralty report some very interesting news - news that I need to bring to your attention. Evidently, Admirals Greenen and Bashir are making plans to take their forces and the planets under their control."

I raised a single brow, "What do you mean by  _take_ exactly?"

"I mean that in the way that you're thinking, they intend to purge the generals and staff officers loyal to our Lord out of their ranks, take the forces under their control, and take the planets under their control," Voren reported as he clasped his hands behind his back. "I believe they intend to create some sort of feudal little kingdoms out of their territories."

In other words, exactly what Lord Revan had feared.

I turned away from the imposing Sith, "And what do you intend to do about it?"

"I'll remove them from the Admiralty, with your approval of course," It was almost as if the Sith was mocking me with his accommodating manner - as if I could actually stop him from removing Greenen and Bashir, even if I had a desire to stop them. That wasn't to say that Lord Revan gave the Sith the run of the Empire, but certain Sith got their way, a lot.

"I suppose that would fall under Lord Revan's directives in the event of this happening," I waved my hand imperiously. "You may proceed with your operation with my full consent."

He bowed his head slightly, "Thank you Admiral, and if I may ask a question?"

"Yes?" I turned back to him and narrowed my eyes.

"How long will you keep this information regarding Lord Revan a secret?" Voren replied.

"Until the time is right, Lord Voren," I turned to sit down at my desk chair.

That was all that needed to be said.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

Tightening my grip around the guard's throat, I was aware that all of the eyes of the men and Bastila were on us. They had long formed a circle around us when the apparent captain of the guards had made their way out onto the field. I had no intention of killing him, but as I saw it, this was me proving my dominance over them. If conventional wisdom held, which I long learned that it did - then I would not be challenged again, at all by any of these men.

"Do you know who I am?" I asked him calmly as my grip tightened even further.

I couldn't understand his garbled words, but I did get the gist of what he was saying.

He knew who I was now.

"If you, or any of your people, challenge me in combat again, I will have this planet vaporized and all life on it extinguished," I released my grip and used a telekinetic shove through the Force to knock him to the ground. "You will take me to your King Olska, now!"

* * *

The fear.

The fear was palpable.

As Bastila, myself, and our escort walked through the city, I could feel the fear that was pouring off of the population. All the while, my observations never ceased, I needed to gain some sort of understanding of what these people where. I understood what their warriors were, tough, effective and utterly fearless when met in conventional fighting. The real key to dominating a planet, to dominating a population was understand it's civilian population.

A crude population to say the least.

It must have been peaceful.

These people had no conception of the wars that were being fought above their heads and the greater war of philosophy that they Jedi and the Sith had been waging for thousands of years. It made me wonder if they could be brought into line, if they could be brought into serving one master - or one government. Their planet, strategically invaluable to me, could become necessary as a staging area for an assault on the very heart of the Republic.

Would they accept my military occupying their planet?

Would they accept my rule over this planet afterwards?

Would they accept the fact that there was something greater than them out there?

I needed to know

* * *

I suppose, in a way, it would be hypocritical for me to say that I was disgusted by the trappings of monarchy. I would be, and was considered, on many worlds, and by many beings, to be one myself. I ruled an Imperial Theocracy that dominated over half of the Galaxy, my word was law and at a flick of a wrist, I could have millions of beings exterminated. I did not rule a monarchy though, my rule was not established on the basis that I was destined to be there and that some higher being had ordained my place there.

I ruled the Empire because no one else possessed the power to do so.

In a way, I suppose that in itself was a contradiction, but I did not see it that way.

The linings of the walls of the King's throne room were lined with what appeared to be animal pelts and tapestries of many varieties. Deliberately slowing my pace to the throne that was at the head of the room - I took my time in observing some of the artwork. I wasn't much of a connoisseur - but I did know enough to come to the conclusion that this population, or at least this kingdom was incredibly advanced in the making of its art.

"I see you are interested in the Battle of Hanosh," A deep voice interrupted my reverie.

It was only then that I realized that I had come to a complete stop and that I had been staring at a particular deep red tapestry. The detail of the bloody war scene was immaculate to say the least. It could probably turn the stomach of a lesser being, but I had been in similar battles in my time and it took a lot to make me ill. The depictions of decapitations, dismemberment, hand to hand combat, it was all made in a way to glorify the horror of war.

But who the hell was I to judge?

"I suppose I am," I turned to observe the man.

Dressed head to toe in a deep scarlet robe, and adorned with what looked to be sacred jewelry, I assumed that this must be the mighty king that I had been hearing so much about.

The tiny golden crown was utterly pretentious - and I had to suppress the urge of taking the crown from his head and crushing it under my heel.

That would come soon enough.

"I must introduce myself, I am King Olska, my family has ruled this providence for many cycles," He bowed lowly at the waist and that act caused me to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

It wasn't often that Kings, no matter how small of a kingdom they ruled, bowed to others.

"I am Darth Revan," I replied politely, keeping my voice level and placing my arms around my back. I suppose I looked rather out of place, standing in the middle of a throne room with nothing put a pair of pants and boots on, while the ruler of the land bowed to me. "I suppose you could say that I am something of a king myself, though on a larger scale."

"Ah yes, my guards tell me that you are the ruler of the stars above," Olska seemed to ne nearly overcome with fear at the revelation and it made me smile, this would be very easy.

"Yes," I nodded, the smile never leaving my face. "I do happen to rule the Galaxy, well half anyway. That's merely semantics, the other half will be in my possession soon enough."

As I gently and silently probed at the man's mind the in the Force, I sensed a widening apprehension growing in him and a great fear coming to the forefront of his little mind.

"And this land? Is it under your rule?" Olska asked, trying to disguise his fear.

I smirked.

"No," I began and when the relief on his face became evident, my amusement grew. "The state of that will change very soon, because you see, in a matter of days, my naval forces will move into orbital positions around this planet. You see, my ship crashed on this planet and I am currently in the process of summoning my servants to retrieve me."

A half truth, not exactly the truth, but not exactly a lie either.

What he didn't know wouldn't harm him.

"So, in a manner of speaking, this planet isn't officially mine, but soon, it may very well be." I stepped closer to him and lowered my voice to a whisper. It wouldn't do to break out into another fight with his soldiers, not when I hadn't had the opportunity to rest, or at least meditate. "Therefore, I must ask you to consider your options very carefully, because it will happen. You'll find that I can be a great ally to someone who is willing to obey my every command, and a great enemy to those who do not."

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

It was undignified to say the least.

A Jedi should know better.

However, I couldn't help but completely groan as I sat down on the bed and laid back into its utter comfort. It was the first time in days that I had been able to sleep on something that wasn't dirt - and I suppose that my controls were down. It didn't matter that Revan had obviously threatened King Olska, it didn't matter that only an hour before, we had been in battle with dozens of guards. All that mattered was that this bed was akin to paradise.

"Enjoying yourself?" Revan's wry voice broke the peaceful silence.

I narrowed my eyes and turned my head on the bed to find Revan standing in the doorway.

"You seemed to enjoy terrorizing that man," I shot back gently. "Well? Did you."

Revan threw his head back in what appeared to be genuine laughter and nodded his head with emphatic enthusiasm, "Oh yes I did, I enjoyed it very much, thank you for asking."

"I live to serve," I shot back dryly as I settled back into my original position.

However, before I could fall gently off to sleep and forget that I was trapped for even more time with the man that was supposed to be my mortal enemy, the sight of a fruit bowl appeared in the periphery of my vision.

I was almost compelled to reach for one by my rumbling stomach.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Revan's voice sounded bored.

I reluctantly leaned up and looked in his direction, only to find him staring out of what appeared to be a window. Even with his back to me, I could sense that he was in deep contemplation, and it was only like him to annoy me while simultaneously managing to be in introspective thought.

"And why not? We haven't had anything good to eat in days," I couldn't help but get the shot it. His bumbling and aggressiveness had forced me to hurt people today, and I was feeling the irritation with him.

Revan chuckled in response and locked his eyes onto mine, "Be that as it may, I sense a plot to kill us, not only in the mind of the King, but in the minds of the staff and the guards. We would be much better off bartering for something good, and not-poisoned to eat, out there in that market."

Damn him and his unrestrained spying into other people's minds.

"But by all means," He winked. "Take a bite of that fruit, I'm curious to see the result."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan's forces begin their rescue efforts as our two "heros" find themselves trapped in a hostile palace

Captain Rohcage could not believe the sight before him.

Trying to fight down the twitching of his lekku and the urge to call security, despite the fact that he knew that it would do no good against the Dark Jedi, he looked up into the eyes of the Sith Officer in front of his desk. When the Centurion-class battlecruiser came out of hyperspace at his listening post, he almost sent out the distress signal, almost. He was indescribably thankful that he chose not to do that though. Whatever the Sith were doing here, he did not want to become involved, and he knew that if he had refused to surrender, they would simply kill all on board. He had saved the lives of his crew by surrendering. That was what he would tell himself at night, and the court, when he was arrested for treason.

"We don't want to hurt you or any member of your crew," The officer, who had introduced himself as Commander Atton Rand, began softly. "We simply ask that all of your reports that you will send to the Coruscant for the next week, simply do not mention us at all."

Rohcage watched as Commander Rand extended his hand to one of the two Dark Jedi flanking him. When the Dark Jedi inserted a large black case into Rand's hand, the Twi'lek once again twitched nervously when the Sith Commander slammed the case down onto his desk. He gasped as the contents of the case were revealed as the human took his time opening the case. For someone who had lived on a Republic Military Officer's salary for the past decade, seeing that many credits at once was something that shock any civilized being.

Inside of the case, arranged neatly inside, were perhaps millions of Republic Credits.

"Just so we don't have any issue, consider this a gift from the Empire, for your silence," The human smiled evilly. "If five million credits is not enough to buy your silence, and your compliance with our objectives, I will also be leaving my two friends here on your station."

Rohcage looked at the two black cloaked Dark Jedi behind the Sith Commander and attempted to swallow the lump in his throat. The thought of having them on the station for two weeks was unmitigated torture, "That won't be necessary Commander Rand, I ass-..."

The young male smiled and shook his head, "No Captain, I insist - if you and your crew behave, these two gentleman have orders to depart your station at the end of the week. If you do not behave, they have orders to execute all on board and commandeer the station."

"So I suggest that you comply," Commander Rand interrupted the sniveling Captain.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

It wasn't the light breeze that whipped against my face that roused me out of my mediation on the terrace. No, in my constant calling out through the Force, it was the disturbance in the Force that brought me out of it. I felt a pull, I felt something coming from a great distance and nearing me with every second that passed. The issue was that I had had no conception of what it was, or if they were even an ally, an enemy, or sympathetic to my cause. If this world had the appropriate technology on this planet, I would have begun running long range scans of the sector. I didn't know what I could do if the Republic landed.

"It's far too late for you to be out here meditating," Bastila's annoyed voice sounded from the room behind me. "Believe it or not, you're making a lot of noise out here, come to bed."

I smiled slightly and turned back to her, not leaving my meditative pose, "Was that an invitation my darling? I suppose it would be a romantic occasion, the stars, the-..."

"Why is everything a joke to you?!" Bastila demanded.

"Why can't you admit that you want to pin me to a bed and ravish me?" I shot back with a very amused smile. "I think it would do wonders for our relationship to be honest. I'm a handsome man if I do say so myself, and you are an absolutely gorgeous young woman, and all of this tension that we've had since we've met would evaporate just like that."

I didn't need to be looking at her to know that she was sneering at me, "Just like that?"

I nodded, "Just like that."

"Well, has it ever occurred to you that this  _tension_  that we have stems from the fact that I hate the fact that I am always around you," Bastila hissed at me, and I felt myself tense as she came closer to me. "The fact that you forcibly bonded me to you? The fact that you seem to take delight in driving me insane and making me express things that are below-..."

"A Jedi?" I finished her sentence mockingly and turned back to her.

Now she was less than two feet me and if I had been caught off guard, she could have easily incapacitated me. Though I sensed the she was utterly defenseless, I did not want to take an chances with her. I shot off of my knees and back onto my feet and spun around to meet her. All the while, I kept the wide smile on my face, I couldn't let her feel my alarm.

"Don't tell me you've never wondered what it would be like?" I grinned as she began to back away towards the door. "I mean, I'm sure you've heard the stories of your fellow Jedi experiencing lust and sex? It usually happens on their first assignment away from their master. It happened for me that way, I thoroughly enjoyed it, but then again, I'm a man."

Even only bathed in the moonlight, I could see the blush that seemed to stain her cheeks.

"Are you bothered by me Bastila," I dropped the tone of my voice about an octave lower.

And backed her against the wall.

"Don't tell me that you don't want me?" I locked eyes with her and began to slowly lower my lips.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

If I had ever wondered why this man had been able to conquer works and empires that had existed and endured for thousands of years, I just received the answer. They had all survived before that had met him, and it made me wonder something quite provocative and something that made more heat rush too my face. Had Revan conquered half of the galaxy on the force of his own will, his military and powers? Or he had, at least in part, seduced it into his grip? Literally. I wondered how many Empresses, Priestesses and Heads of State had been under the force his eyes, body, power and attraction. If they had been, then...

I couldn't deny one thing.

I had thought about what he was suggesting.

When I felt one of his arms wrap themselves around my waist, I shivered.

And not in a bad way.

"Remove your arm from me," I hissed at him, attempting to keep my facade off.

"Your thoughts betray you darling," Revan chuckled lowly and leaned forward to brush his lips against my right cheek. "Right about now, you're wondering how it would feel if my hands drifted just a bit lower - and maybe you're wondering what it would be like to kiss."

_'Yes...'_

"No," I fought back and shoved him back with help from the Force. It was immensely satisfying to see the look of shock on Revan's face when my shove made him stumble back a good few feet. "If you ever even think of touching me like that again, I will make you regret it."

"And I'll make you scream if you ever let me touch you like that," Revan wiggled his eyebrows up and down suggestively.

I growled and turned to leave.

I could always go and sleep in another room.

* * *

**Revan's Point of view**

"Silly little girl," I chuckled as I turned back towards the balcony.

Looking over the sprawling city, I tried my mind back to focus and try to reestablish my meditative concentration. Except that I couldn't do it, and inevitably my thoughts were drawn back to my previous position. If I hadn't been so careful, I might have even pressed my fingers so hard into the palm of my hands that they could probably start to bleed. It had only be a joke - even touching her like that was supposed only supposed to get her off of my back and leave me alone. I never expected that it would manage to actually effect me.

I had long accepted that I was attracted to the girl.

Most heterosexual beings were attracted to girls like her and I was no exception.

That was lust though, pure lust.

It wasn't… that other  _thing_ , the other word that would not be mentioned.

If it were not for her abilities, I would have killed her weeks ago and I would have been back in the Empire and correcting the damage that was done by my absence. That was all that she was, a means to an end. Her Battle Meditation, at this point, was the only thing that was keeping her alive, and frankly, I didn't know who I wanted to convince more.

Bastila, or myself.

This was not good, not good at all.

Draped in a red cloak from the palace, I found that people didn't get in my way.

Despite the fact that people were actually going out of their way to avoid my path, I found this city to be pleasant, if not primitive. If I wasn't aware of what life was like off of this planet and all of the technology that it entailed, I might have actually thought that it didn't get any better than this. For the wholesome feeling and the utter simplicity that this place seemed to inspire, I couldn't give up speeders, turbolifts and computers for this. I would even take a primitive computer over this, I would not be able to function in this society.

"They say that you're the Dark One?" A small voice interrupted intruded on my silence as I observed the market square. Peering out of my cowl and looking down a small girl that had wandered up to stand beside me, I raised a single eyebrow at the smiling dark haired girl.

I was impressed by the child's fortitude, albeit reluctantly. There were no many children that had the courage to come up to a total stranger and ask them a question, let alone come up to the Dark Lord of the Sith. It wasn't that children were frightened by me, it was just that their parents, rightly so, often warned them to stay away from me at all costs.

Sinking down to my haunches, I lowered the hood of the cloak and returned her smile with an inquisitive look, "You certainly are brave, little one – what if I really was this person?"

"You don't seem so dark to me," The girl replied with a bit of a pout.

I smiled.

I wasn't going to deny for a second that I was this being for a moment, I was Dark, it was my weapon and my defense. What this girl was seeing was a mask, pure and simple – but I had no wish to show her my true nature, the one that was truly a Lord of the Dark Side of the Force. I was rational enough to understand the difference between innocent and guilty.

"Suppose that I am the Dark One," I stood up and smiled down at her. "What's it to you?"

"I'd want you to hurt that bully Tolach!" The girl whined and turned to point towards her left, and when I looked in that direction, I observed something that irritated me to no end.

It was a boy, he couldn't have been more than ten years of age – and he was pointing and laughing at girl that had evidently fallen into a puddle of mud. The girl, who looked to be around the same age as the one that was speaking to me now, was crying. It was plainly obvious that the boy had pushed the girl into the mud – and no one was doing anything.

Was this what I had been reduced to?

Handling the disputes of children on backwater worlds?

I suppose so.

"Excuse me," I told the little girl and set off in the direction of this Tolach, who was still unashamedly laughing at the poor girl that he had pushed down. Did no one bother to teach children manners anymore? Was there any sense of chivalry left in the Galaxy? I couldstill clearly remember being taught as a child that it was wrong to strike girls outside of the heat of battle. The more I began to think about it, the more my anger grew, and it kept growing.

I would teach this child a lesson about bullying others.

Folding my arms over my chest, I slowed down my pace as I approached the disgusting scene and when I arrived, I leveled a withering glare on the boy. I suspected that the only reason he stopped laughing was because of my robes, the rumors that I was the Dark One.

Good.

I was pleased that the arrogant little brat feared me.

"Why did you push this girl into the mud?" I narrowed my eyes at the boy.

If Bastila was here, she would probably be losing her mind at the thought that I would Force Choke a little boy. I was not going to do that though, there was no point in doing something that could be resolved by putting some fear into the boy. I was going to do the boy a favor anyway, because there could be a day when the girl would rise up, and want revenge on him. There was nothing in the rest of extensive like a woman hell-bent on taking revenge.

"Uh… uh, I don't know why I was doing it sir," The boy answered my question quietly.

"Understand that there are worse things in the world, little one – and one day, you're going to push the wrong girl down, and they're going to come after you," I smiled slightly as my own memories of such events came through my mind. "Believe me, it has happened to me."

I grinned when the boy frowned and shook his head, "Girls are-…"

"Girl's grow up," I smirked slightly. "And they'll want a piece of you, and they'll get it."

It didn't take long for the boy to absorb my words – and I let out a laugh as he promptly picked up the girl's hand and pulled her out of the mud, muttering apologies all the way.

I suppose that I had used fear with the boy – a form of fear that affected men anyway.

The violent fear worked best with adults.

* * *

Taking a bite of the fruit, I used my chewing to disguise the smirk that came over my face.

I had literally nothing to barter with, nothing at all – except with the force of my own personality and there were no words to describe how large my ego grew when it worked. I didn't even have to manipulate her mind, all I had to do was smile, wink and complement her. The shopkeeper was had practically threw the fruit at me and now I had something for Bastila and I eat that wouldn't kill us. It would probably enrage the would-be conspirators.

Nodding and smiling at one of the palace workers even as I kept chewing on my fruit, I continued my march down the corridor towards the suite that my little Jedi and I were sharing. I had tried to get her to leave the room, but Bastila still wasn't speaking to me and it amused me to no end. All I did was nearly kiss her, she acted as if I physically assaulted her. I might have wanted to annoy her and tease her, but I would never, ever go that low.

A tingling sensation at the back of my skull stopped me movements.

It stopped my thoughts and caused the bag of fruit to drop out of my hand.

Summoning my lightsaber to my hand, and spinning around to the location of the disturbance. All of the light in the corridor had been extinguished, and the only illumination in the hall came from the crimson light of my blade. For anyone else, it might have been a fatal disadvantage on my part, but I was not anyone else, I was not a normal man at all.

I was a Lord of the Sith.

The darkness was my weapon and all of my enemies were powerless against it all.

Extinguishing my weapon and holstering it back at my waist, I sunk back into a darkened alcove of the corridor and used the Force to manipulate the darkness around me. It was an old trick, freely taught by an obscure Freedon Nadd worshiping cult on the jungle moon of Dxun, to anyone who they deemed worthy enough to learn. I fit that description easily and I passed their tests with ease, and they taught me the technique. It'd saved my life several times, and I was sure that I was going to be able to add this situation to the long count.

The life of the poor fool that was attempting to kill me though.

He was another situation entirely.

* * *

**General Point of View**

He had him!

The aim of his blade had been right at the top of the Dark One's spine.

It didn't make any sense though! As soon as he was about to throw the blade and kill him – he dissolved into the shadows. It had seemed as if the darkness itself had swallowed him whole, and in hindsight, he should have gone then. He should have reported that his attempt had failed and that they would have to try again – but he didn't, and it was a mistake that he would soon regret.

The stories that he had been hearing about the Dark One were utterly terrifying, enough to bring even him and his fellow assassins into total fear.

Peering into the darkened alcove, which was covered in complete and total darkness, the assassin waited. The alcoves in the corridors were small, he knew this – he knew everything there was to know about the building. His training and knowledge of the building was what was making it hard for him to believe that the Dark One could just disappear in the alcove.

Except he could.

And as the assassin peered closer to the darkened alcove he found that out.

By a hand drawing around him into the dark by his neck.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

Pathetic.

Completely and utterly pathetic.

There was something to be said about these people if they're deadliest assassins could break so easily. My personal assassins were trained to fight both mental and physical assaults from the most powerful agents - and they were not made assassins until they proved their worth. I suppose, in hindsight, that it would not have been possible for the people of this planet to have the same benefits, but the man's mind was incredibly weak.

Using the Force to keep both the barrier of light and sound up, I closed my grip tighter around his neck and used the Force to drive deeper into his mind.

The information that I was getting from him was the purpose of doing this.

His screaming and pain was just the bonus.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

"Is he...  _dead_?" I asked as Revan dragged the man's body into our suite.

It was not the first time that I had seen a corpse, I had killed people after all - but it was so strange to see them after living on this planet and away from the killing of the war. I reminded me that there was something going on above my head that would result in the death of a hundreds of millions of other beings. It reminded me that while this place could be paradise, it wasn't - and paradise could be shattered easily, and with a very simple act.

"In a way," Revan replied cryptically as he used the Force to shut the door to the suite and knelt down beside the man. I watched as he held a hand over the man's forehead and noticeable grimaced. "I'm afraid my penetration of his mind, and subsequent wiping of his memories, might have damaged his higher brain function, perhaps his lower ones too."

"And why are you going around damaging people's brains?" I put my hands on my hips and looked down at the scene. If we were in the Republic, then perhaps the man could probably have his consciousness restored, but he would live half a life with only half of his brain working. On this world, they would probably think that they're gods have sent him to sleep, and they would probably allow him to die, not having the ability to know any better solution.

Revan looked back up to me with a patient expression, "Because, my dear, he was trying to kill me - and contrary to what the Jedi have taught you in your sheltered life,  _that is bad_."

"What proof do you have of this accusation," I cocked my head and at the expression on his face, I rolled my eyes. "And before you say it, something tangible, not your damn instincts."

The Lord of the Sith reached down to a holder on the side of the man's thigh, something that I had failed to notice when Revan had brought him into the room initially, and grasped the handle of something. Slowly, he began to pull a very long knife out off the holster itself, and when it was fully released, something akin to a cocky smirk appeared on Revan's face.

"You were saying?" Revan raised an eyebrow.

"They are trying to kill us," I whispered in unrestrained shock.

I liked to think the best of people without being far too trusting of strangers - but this was one of those moments when I was wrong. This was one of the moments when Revan was right and hopefully, he wouldn't be too smug about it - and hopefully, he had found food.

"Look, if it makes you feel any better, they're trying to kill us mainly because of me," Revan sighed deeply and looked down to the brain-damaged man, knife still in hand. "Nevertheless they're trying kill the both of us, so you can either let me keep you safe, or keep whining."

I looked down to my feet, "I'll work with you."

"Good," Revan nodded his head. "Now, the benefit of this happening was that we're on a planet with no security sensors or holocams - so I'm going to move the body and leave it for someone to find. You are going to down the corridor and to the right to pick up the fruit that I dropped when this man tried to attack me, it's not poisoned and it is potential evidence."

I nodded and looked back up to him, "Did you... did you find anything in his mind?"

Revan nodded, "Do not trust anyone in this building."


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan fights back -- The Sith and Republic Fleets prepare for battle and hope dies for King Olska

**Two Standard Days Later...**

**Revan's Point of View**

I had been through worse.

There was nothing worse than feeling like an animal trapped in a cage though, and I would give them their credit for inspiring such a feeling in me. It would not save them of course, I had a habit of coming out on top - and there was no possible way for their half-baked attempts at assassination to work. Still, they had me looking over my shoulder most of the time, and they had me using my powers on an  _unprecedented_ scale. Not even my worst enemies had ever made me go this far.

Every single face I passed held some manner of fear and contempt for me.

They feared me first and foremost and that was the most important thing, they all seemed to know that I was the one that had turned their assassin into a vegetable but they didn't understand how. They didn't seem to understand the depths of command over the Force - they didn't understand that I was virtually untouchable.

At least from them.

The only practitioners of the Force that I could discern living amongst these people were their shamans and soothsayers. Extremely talented individuals, bathed in the power in the Force and evidently heavily gifted in the ability to see into the future.

But they were not warriors, and even if they were, there were very few individuals that I had ever encountered that had the ability to match their will with my own. I demonstrated that to them when they attempted to breach my mental defenses in sleep. I later found out that one of them had actually died in my telekinetic reprisal, and since then, I had not felt so much as even a touch against my mental shields.

In the end, I knew that I was safe and able to defend myself completely.

It was my young Jedi companion that I was concerned about.

"Stretch out with your mind," I spoke just loudly enough so that she could hear me, but quiet enough not to disrupt her concentration. "Feel the ebb of life around you, feel their fears, their hopes, their desires and their dreams - feel the living Force."

It was my best impersonation of Darth Traya that I could muster.

I let a sardonic little grin come to my face at the thought of my very first master and imagined what she would think of my position. She would probably not even be concerned about my predicament on this backwards planet - she would probably be more amused with the fact that I was teaching this very power ability to this Jedi.

What Bastila wasn't even aware of was that this was a technique that was born directly from the Dark Side of the Force. Not even some of history's greatest Sith Lords had been able to manage it. Those who had learned the technique could easily fracture their mind and go mad - but those who didn't were very vulnerable.

"Do you see them there? In the periphery of your vision," I murmured slightly and looked down at the busy market place below. "A blinding light in the Force, those are the shamans and the soothsayers of these people that you see. Very well gifted in the ability to see into the future, they're also very skilled in mental attacks."

I smirked slightly, evidently not enough - but my mind wasn't a nice place.

Looking towards Bastila's serene face, I saw her nod slightly and then looked back off of the terrace at the market place, "Feel their strength, feel their will and harness your own - and most of all, harness your will, your willpower will make you strong. The ability to redirect their attacks is your greatest weapon against them."

I wasn't going to tell her that if she harnessed her will great enough, and redirected their attacks back at them - she could kill them, like I had. Bastila, for all of the war, death and fighting that she had encountered, had a stunningly naive point of view about murder. What did she consider murder exactly? Did she attempt to justify killing of my soldiers as the will of the greater good? Was she that stupid?

One of these days, if she attempted to cram that flawed piece of Jedi rhetoric down my throat again, I was going to shake her and keep shaking her until she got it.

"You're trying to get me to kill them, aren't you?" Bastila's voice broke through the silence, and it was so soft that I almost didn't hear it. I felt no anger from her, no outrage, just a simple feeling of acceptance and resignation towards my intentions.

"Not necessarily," I replied honestly, there was no point in lying to her, because I was sure that she was beginning to understand me better. At least in the way I acted, and the way I handled my affairs and my business, the naive little Jedi was beginning to take off her blinders. "The technique will defend your mental faculties - but with the right pressure, and redirection of your will, it can kill your attacker."

And this child lacked not only will, but the purity of such will to kill like that.

When I took her from my own, broke her and rebuilt her in the image of my own beliefs and teachings, maybe then. For now though, there was something of an inherent layer of... goodness, and purity to do such a thing. To unhinge the defenses of a mind, to force the brain into an utter state of madness and to finally release the being from their torment was not something I expected from her.

Not now anyway.

"I don't understand you," It was only then that I heard the first traces of a hostile emotion in her voice. "You put me in this position where I'm forced to defend myself - and you only five me a way to defend myself is a technique in the Dark."

I scoffed and pushed myself off of the railing, "It's only bathed in the power of the Dark Side if you use it to kill someone. The only way that one could ever do that with this particular technique is if you have a purity of will to direct the energy."

I came to stand in front of her and sunk down to my haunches, and when I put my hands on her face, I fully intended on shaking her. She was just sending my irritation with her sky high, and I needed an outlet before I did something stupid.

"You don't have  _will_  to kill someone with that technique," I narrowed my eyes and got closer to her. "You don't have the  _spine_  to think about disobeying the council."

And then something happened that I didn't expect to happen.

The foolish little girl forced herself up and kissed me.

* * *

It was such a subtle thing to grow attracted to someone.

I had experienced many liaisons in my life, first as a Jedi, than as a leader of the Republic Military, and as Lord of the Sith. I was no stranger to it, and frankly, there were some days when I found the idea of it so entirely tedious. My mind was needed elsewhere, my concentration was needed elsewhere, and it did not need to be focused upon those of the opposite sex. That much was a certainty with the war.

But this, this was different, this was a different situation entirely.

Picking her up by her thighs and rushing her forward to push her into the wall, our lips never broke contact with each other - and our hands never stopped exploring.

There was an undercurrent of nervousness in her mind, but she never stopped.

She never stopped kissing me, and she never stopped touching me.

And in that moment, I knew that I had won the last battle of the first act.

Now came the second act.

* * *

She was sleeping.

Looking back up towards the room that we had been given, I smiled.

Her mind was at peace for the first time since... since the moment I had first encountered her, and I couldn't help but be incredibly smug about it.

That wasn't to say that our  _actions_ had cured all of her ills, but it had removed a tenseness to her, that had been a characteristic about her that I found most annoying.

Would she regret it?

I genuinely believed that she would not - and in fact, I would go so far as to believe that Bastila Shan would forever be changed by the experience that we had shared together. My kidnapping, my stint as a prisoner, our experience on the Republic Capital Ship, our short experiences on this planet, our rolling around in the sheets.

The Jedi Padawan that I had met on the bridge of my flagship was no longer in existence. Regardless if I was I that did it or our bond, her wide-eyed naiveté was gone - and in its place was someone who accepted the fact that things happened.

If this would translate into transition into the Sith Order - I wasn't entirely sure.

But one thing was for certain, we had crossed a line.

Things were now happening that could not be reversed, and I could feel the coming tectonic shift in the Force.

I wondered, for a moment, if my enemies could feel it too.

Did they understand that things had changed? Did they fear, deep down, in the pit of their collective stomach that I had won? Were they filled with unearned confidence that I had lost?

The sound of footsteps interrupted my inner thoughts and I froze.

I had let my guard down, and now I was caught.

Cursing under my breath, I attempted to gather my strength in the Force, and inwardly berate myself for falling under the spell of that Jedi.

Had I forgotten that we were surrounded by people that wanted to kill us?

I had been a fool.

The snap hiss of my blade was the only sound made as I spun on my feet.

Someone was following me, I could feel their presence in my mind, strong – but weak at the same time, courageous, but also utterly terrified in their task. Whoever they were, they were bold – and they were just the sort of person that I would admire under different circumstances. It was such a shame that they would die.

"I can feel you, you know," I spoke into the darkness of the passageway. "You wait here, hoping that I will fall into your little web, it's a clever, but very flawed, tactic."

It would probably work on an ordinary individual, and perhaps on a lesser Sith and Jedi, but certainly not on me. These people didn't even realize the magnitude of the powers that I had been given, they couldn't even fathom the idea. In some ways, even though we were both human, I was above them, beyond them, a god in comparison. That was why they were attempting to murder me after all, godhood.

Running my eyes along the inky blackness of the shadowed alcoves, I smiled.

I was getting closer.

* * *

"This is the Republic Freighter  _Runault_ ," Admiral Dodonna could not quite believe what she was hearing for the third time. Careful planning, and ego aside, she had never quite fathomed the idea that her enemies would be this bold in their military tactics. "We have a confirmed sighting of an Sith Imperial Interdictor in Republi-…"

The rest of the audio feed was garbled, but her engineers were sure that it was the doing of the Sith and their attempts to keep whatever they were doing in that system a complete secret. Not that she blamed them – if she were commanding them, she would want total silence and complete and total privacy in their search.

They were only a few standard hours away from Coruscant through Hyperspace.

It was also within the grid that SIS had laid out in the search of Darth Revan.

The Republic had always been straddling the line of defeat and collapse ever since he had returned from the unknown regions of the Galaxy with an armada the Galaxy had never seen. Until today though, he had never been this close to actually striking at both the literal and metaphorical heart of the Galactic Republic's power.

"We have eight capital ships in position, Admiral Dodonna," Her chief communications officer reported to her. "Nine more are on their way to join up."

That mean she had seven ships to protect Coruscant – and if the Sith attacked now.

If they attacked now, bringing an entire fleet, or perhaps an entire Armada, into the system while she was diverted, the Republic was doomed to being conquered – it was very stark. The worst part was that she knew she had to do something here.

She could not allow a Sith Incursion this deep into Republic Territory to go on.

"Ready to my shuttle – and once the other nine arrive, give them the coordinates to that system and make sure that they are ready to go," Dodonna ordered the boy and turned on her primly cleaned boot heels to leave the central command center.

The only advantage that they had was that the Sith were not aware of the ship movements of the fleet this deep into the core – if she moved quickly enough, she would be able to put down this incursion and be back in time. In any other circumstance, she would not have left the capital system so completely vulnerable.

* * *

Captain Rand smiled as the task force exited hyperspace.

The serendipity of the plan was almost too much for him to bear – and he wondered if Lord Revan simply made it up as he went along, or if this was all planned out, step by step. Going to the trouble of being captured by the Jedi, and held prisoner for weeks on end seemed to be overkill – but he was not the leader.

Central Command was putting a plan into motion, even as he sent fighters, shuttles and other ships out into this system, combing every planet for even the slightest sign of their lord. It would involve one of the largest fleet movements in Galactic History, and Rand's only regret was that he wouldn't be able to be there to see it.

The transmission from that freighter that they had destroyed had been purposely let out to the Republic. The diversionary tactic would force the bulk of the Republic Fleet surrounding Coruscant to withdraw and come to fight them. Their forces were ready of course, with more than enough firepower to meet them and win in battle.

While this was occurring, three fleets would converge on Coruscant, disable it's orbital defenses, disable it's planetary shields – destroy any installation of the Republic Military, both on and off planet, and begin to land they occupation troops.

The first target would be the Jedi Temple, obviously – and the last word that he had heard on the matter was that the high ranking members of the Admiralty were debating the merits of orbital bombardment of the Temple and doing away with a messy battle on the surface itself. He favored the option, it was far more exciting.

Reigning terror on the heads of the Jedi was an arousing thought to say the least.

It would be a great day.

Lord Revan would return to greatness, the Supreme Commander of the Republic Military would soon be dead, and Coruscant would soon be in the hands of the Sith.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

The blade had swung so heavily at my head that I nearly fell victim to it.

It was only through the Force, and my lightening fast reflexes that I was able to duck from the blow – and bring my blade up to counter the assassin. When he stepped out of the shadows, I would struck by what brute-strength the man radiated through his actions – and not just through the Force. There was a cold, dark, throbbing vein of pain, fear, anger and unadulterated  _rage_  that he fed on.

A solider with sensitivity in the Force?

Oh that was impressive.

When the man batted my lightsaber away with the pure strength of his hand, and sent me flying backwards into the stone wall behind me, my respect for him grew.

Of course through the dizziness that racked my mind from the impact – and as the stunning pain from the impact blossomed, I knew that I would have to kill this man, or more specifically, this creature. This was no man, no man possessed that power.

Aside from the fact that I was Lord of the Sith – I was a fully grown man.

And I wasn't exactly light, and he batted me around like I was a doll.

Shaking my head and still trying to shake of the dizziness, I blinked and looked up at the giant man lurched towards me – I knew I had to act very quickly in that single moment. If didn't – I would be horribly injured, or quite possibly, dead.

Raising my right hand towards the man, I sent a bolt of lightning towards the man's chest – in an effort to stun him, and with my left, delivered to him a push in the Force.

That sent him right  _through_  the  _stone_  wall of the corridor.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

The loud crash stirred me from my meditation and my lightsaber to my hands.

Taking a sharp look around, my blade ignited in my hands – I quickly discovered that the noise did come from our room – but rather from the courtyard below.

Extinguishing my weapon, I ran towards the edge of the terrace and looked down into the Palace Courtyard, to find two red blades swirling in a Force-enhanced flurry. The blades, which were Revan's weapons, I knew that, were the only light.

It was a hypnotizing display to say the least – Revan's weapons creating a crimson colored light show, that was only slightly undone by the burning fires of the village.

The sight of a clearly defined bolt of lightning illuminating the darkness broke me of my hypnosis – and I knew that I had to go down and assist him with this fight.

The Force, or even something deeper, our bond perhaps, was demanding it.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

I had heard legends of an ancient Force-Cult that could enhance the strength of a being, the rage of a being and the mindless of a being until they were a machine.

There were also the products of ancient Sith Alchemists that could twist the fabric of a being's genes and turn them into a mindless killing machine as well. Those rituals were rarely known, and most of them were " _lost_ " with the " _fall_ " of the Sith Empire, hundreds of years ago. I was never able to set my eyes upon the rituals.

Therefore, I could not come up with a way to defeat this  _thing_  with the Force itself.

I was sure that if stuck my lightsaber through his skull – I could kill it though.

The only problem was stunning this creature to the point where I could do it.

The thought had occurred to me to just reach out in the Force, and break the creature. As much strength in the Force as it possessed, it wasn't his – it was something artificial. It could easily be overcome by someone with real power.

Continuing to bat back his attacks, and launch my own, I could feel this artificial power radiating off of him in waves. I could almost see it there, in green eddies of raw energy. Feeding this thing towards victory was an unproductive strategy.

I didn't want to do it though.

I could feel the eyes dozens of Palace Courtiers on me, even as I continued to hold off the monster.

I did not want them to live in abject fear of me at the end of the day. The key to controlling a population was to earn their respect, it was to inspire them and it was to earn their loyalty. Populations that were controlled through fear were useless, and they would inevitably foster the birth of Rebellion throughout the society.

When my soldiers came for me – and when they occupied this planet, the native population would look upon us as gods anyway.

However, I was alone right now, alone with my Jedi companion, and without an army backing me up, it was pr-…

The sound of a war cry, and the sound of a snap hiss of a lightsaber drew both my attention, and the attention of my opponent upwards.

Let it never be said that the Jedi were cowards in all senses of the word, because they weren't – and Bastila, who had obviously seen this fight taking place, was demonstrating it right now. Foolish as it was, I couldn't help but feel deep respect.

That was until the creature batted Bastila away with a single swing of his arm.

And I saw red.

Bastila was a Jedi, and by all rights, I shouldn't have even given a damn about what had just happened to her, but she was more than a Jedi to me. She was my bond-mate, she was completely linked to me, and whatever harm came upon her, would find itself latched to me. Needless to say, her wellbeing was in my interests.

Bringing my lightsaber and my off-hand lightsaber into an attack position – I fell back into the Force, submerging myself in its eddies – summoned my _white_  hot rage…

And leapt.

* * *

"The second planet holds no human life forms," Captain Rand sighed as another one of his technicians delivered a negative report. Similar reports were coming in from all over the fleet, and it was all so very irritating – and it was very bad news.

He clung to what the Dark Jedi had reported to him.

If Darth Revan had been killed, there would be a disturbance in the Force so massive that every single Force user in the Galaxy would feel it, in one way or another. So far, there hadn't been any indication through the Force that Revan had been killed, and until there was one – Captain Rand had orders to keep searching.

He hoped that they would detected some human life signs soon though.

Long range scans had revealed that the Republic Fleet was drawing closer – and they were far closer than the three reserve reinforcements that his task force had at its disposal.

"Move onto the third," Captain Rand ordered and placed his arms behind his back.

Looking out through the view port, as seemingly endless squadrons of fighters flanked his ship – he set his eyes on the third planet in the system and sighed.

There was something in the back of his mind that told him that this would change.

Or maybe he was just foolishly hopeful.

* * *

"27 Interdictors, 18 gunships, 12 freighters, 288 fighters," Her logistics officer reported. "That's not counting the three fleets that we are detecting in the next system over. They have more than enough power to destroy our fleet, easily."

With the right commander anyway.

Admiral Dodonna hoped, prayed, that they hadn't found him yet.

If she was going to enter a battle where she was outnumbered nearly three to one, and with the enemy fleet being commanded by a master tactician, she might as well have just destroyed her ship herself and had handed the capital over to them.

That wasn't the largest fleet ever assembled, but it was big on a common scale – very big, and more than what she would expect for the retrieval of a head of state, or a lost leader. Her fleet crew was inexperienced as it was – still far too green.

"Alert Coruscant of our status, tell them to begin activating the planetary bombardment shield, just in case," Dodonna folded her arms behind her back and stepped away from the logistics console to look back out the viewport. "And then, I want you to send out a general distress call to any Republic Vessel, tell them that assistance is needed both here and in Coruscant – urgent, incredibly urgent help."

She didn't know how Revan had managed to do it.

As far as she knew, he hadn't been able to get any communication out.

Regardless of that fact, he had managed to outplay her at every single turn, he had managed to position his fleets in a way that would leave her, and the Governmental foundation of the Republic for that matter, at terrible risk. If she hadn't come here, she was risking a Sith Invasion deep into Republic Territory, and because she had come here, she was going into a battle where she was going to be overwhelmed.

And as a result, the skies of Coruscant would be darkened by Sith Interdictors.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

I was digging deeper and deeper.

All of my repressed rage and anger over the events of the past few weeks was unleashing itself on the creature, and even I, in the red haze of my vision, was somewhat overwhelmed. Strike after strike, I was coming closer and closer to it.

The moment where I could sever his head from his body.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

It was… it was breathtaking.

The raw power that he had exuded, I had felt tastes of it before, flashes of it before, but seeing it now was something different entirely. Seeing it now would be intoxicating in any other circumstance, but the buzzing in my head was preventing me from appreciating it fully. Appreciating the deadly grace that Revan wielded.

Holding my breath and leaning against the cold stone pavement, I watched with one eye open as Revan batted the monster's arms and sword away with a single, powerful and utterly furious blow.

It made my insides burn to realize that he was doing it for me.

* * *

**King Olska's Point of View**

I watched as my advisors and my soothsayers wrenched their hands.

We had found my assassin's body in one of the east wing corridors, my healers had been faced with a puzzle. He appeared to be living, he appeared to still breathe, and his body was still warm. No matter how much we attempted to wake him though, and no matter how many medicines were given, he would not awaken.

I knew that this perilous détente with the Dark One had to end.

The creature was my last hope, all other attempts to kill the Dark One failed, and if the creature failed – I would fail. I had no doubts that, despite what my advisors told me, I would be killed and my kingdom, my family, would be wiped out utterly.

The sudden gasp of one of my soothsayers drew my attention back around.

"What happened?" I rounded on her and growled. "I demand to know what-…"

But the soothsayer did not get the chance to explain.

The sound of the wooden door to my throne room exploding tore my attention away from her, and when I looked back, I saw the body of the  _creature_  fly through the air and watched as it landed at the foot of my throne's raised dais.

The snap his of the Dark One's weapons was the next sound.

And all of my hope was destroyed.


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Revan reigns supreme.

**Revan's Point of View**

My fury drove me.

Slashing through the guards with my lightsabers, body parts flew in all directions around me, and their screams were a symphony of terror that drove me ever forward to my goal. I had not been able to let loose like this in a very long time, always having to hold myself back for the sake of my  _pet_  Jedi. It seemed like an eternity anyway, there was no proper way for me to vent my ever-increasing rage.

Not within the confines of the Jedi Enclave – and not with my goal of lulling Bastila into a false sense of security. It would not have been prudent for me to kill everything in sight with her standing next to me – and in truth, the entire duration of the experience might have gone a little easier if I had been allowed to do it.

But Bastila's conversation, her softening, her breaking – it had to be gentle, she had to be seduced, and blood, gore, dismemberment and wanton murder would not have been a good form of seduction. Not yet anyway, she was, despite everything that happened, a Jedi – and she wasn't seeing things properly, like a Sith, as of yet.

Using the Force to bat away a spear that was thrown at me by the last guard standing in the room, I reached out and gripped the man's neck with the movement of only only two of my fingers. All of the while, I kept my eyes trained on the King.

There were many things that I wanted to convey to him.

Was his time over?  _Yes_.

Was I going to inflict  _unimaginable_  torment on him for harming my Jedi?

 _Oh_  yes.

In fact, the next few minutes would determine the fate of not only his entire world, but the entire civilization that inhabited this world. When my forces entered this system, and when they began to occupy the only habitable planet in the system, the one on which I stood now – the occupation of an empty planet was far easier.

But then again, I could be merciful and allow them to live while my troops stayed.

The advances in their culture, science and ways of thinking would be enormous, some would even go as far as to say unethical and immoral, but I didn't happen to mind that. Either way, their presence made no foreseeable difference to my plans.

"King Olska," I purred slightly, repressing the hoarseness of my throat, my senses still reeling from the pleasurable release of wanton mayhem and destruction. It felt slightly akin to intoxication, but I wouldn't let this "ruler" see it. "It is time for you."

Time to die.

He knew it, I knew it – I was sure that his soothsayers and priests knew it as well.

If they were as gifted as I was led to believe, which I couldn't entirely doubt, I had probably made an impact on them that was larger than I could see. Since my arrival on this planet, I had more than likely disturbed their vision so greatly that they couldn't help but report to the King that a great darkness was coming to them.

It was highly unlikely that they hadn't felt a powerful being in the Force in their limited sight on this planet, but it was an assurance that they had never felt the presence of a being like me. They, ultimately, were the cause of all of my ills here.

"Tell me," I began walking forward slightly to the dais. "What do you see,  _seers_?"

The ability to see into the future with such accuracy was not a gift that was extinct amongst the Jedi and the Sith. My first, and truth be told,  _only_ , Master was an example of a similar gift. The issue was that it was rare, so  _incredibly_  rare and like the gift of a certain delicate little flower in the courtyard – it did pique my interest.

"We see…" One of them began, closing her eyes slowly.

An older woman she was, I could feel the power of the Force radiating from her – and I could not help but wonder if she was the chief of this merry little band.

"…I know what you see," I answered her and  _drove_  my lightsaber into the chest of the King.

His ensuring scream was soon muted by my off-hand weapon  _severing_  his head.

Deactivating my weapons, feeling no more danger, I returned them to my waist and stood with the King's body at my feet, facing the gaggle of Force Seers.

They would serve me, with both knew that.

They could see the future in their minds, when they looked at me – and they knew exactly what I planned on doing with them. The ability to see into the future, or even multiple futures, was one that was impossibly valuable – one that I did not intend to waste. Not with their King, the real object of my abject fury, lying dead.

I extended a hand to them, and gave them a simple, one word command.

"Kneel."

That was all that needed to be said.

Through their gift, I could extrapolate that they knew that they would be treated well, that they would be treated more as advisers and precious assets then prisoners. All they had to do was cooperate with me, all of it could be very true.

They only needed to bow.

And they did.

* * *

**Kenual's Point of View**

The carnage was something that I would never forget.

Followed by my father's advisers, I took care to give a silent prayer to the slain guards as I passed by their bodies. There was no way for me to undo what was done in this room, and no matter how much I would grieve for my father, I knew, I just knew, that this moment was not the right time for it. In private, after paying heed to the Dark One's commands, I would attempt to make some time for it all.

That was, of course, assuming that I lived though this meeting.

Moving my sight forward, the sight of a stranger, a literal stranger, sitting upon my father's throne enraged me to no end.

If he were any other man, I could kill him for the impudence to sit in that chair.

But he was no ordinary man – he had done this  _all_  on his own and I couldn't fight.

"You must be Prince Kenual?" The Dark One asked me as I approached.

With his hands curved on the delicately hand carved wooden arm rests, I folded my arms behind my back and nodded to him. I had to restrain myself, I had to understand that we had been bested by a being that was far beyond anything that we could fight. My father had only agonized about that sad fact for several days.

"I am," I answered quietly.

Looking back up, I saw the Dark One smile imperiously and lean back.

He sat on my family's throne as if he was meant to sit on a throne and rule, as if it was always meant to be his. Royal poise, straight line posture, one leg crossed over the other – he had the mannerisms, power, ego, feel and mind-set of a ruler.

Now, I supposed, he could truly be one.

"Good," The Dark One purred – and I watched as he braced his elbows on both of the arm rests and steepled his fingers in front of his face. "We need to have a talk."

What more was there to say?

My father lay dead in the next room, his guards brutality slaughtered– the Royal Seers had sworn an oath of loyalty to an incarnation of evil. By all accounts, if it wasn't for the gentle lulling of this man's voice, I was sure that I would be dead in no time. Death would not be so bad, if it looked as I my people weren't ruled freely.

"I…I will serve at your discretion," I bowed my head slightly.

The smile on the man's face told me one thing, it gave me the strange impression that he knew what I was thinking. If he knew what was I thinking, then I knew the loathing I felt towards him, the begrudging acceptance in the fact that we had been defeated. He must have know what the sight of him made me indescribably sick.

"Oh young one, you will serve me in more ways than you know," He chuckled darkly and a chill ran down my spine. There was something in his laugh that spelled forbidding doom – but towards me? Or my people, I couldn't say. "I'm only occupying your throne for a short time young King, it is yours, it belongs to your family and I have no rights to claim the throne of your kingdom for my taking."

I did a double take and looked up to him, "I-I… I don't understand?"

"I'm saying that this entire planet is mine, and you will rule it with my blessing and under my authority, but you will serve me, first and foremost," He pronounced.

The Dark One had said that he came from the stars, that he ruled over and Empire that encompassed hundreds, no –  _thousands_ , of planets. Was I really going to believe that he was going to conquer our entire world and hand control of it over to me? Me and only me? I didn't - I couldn't, I  _wouldn't_ believe such a bold thing.

"The entire world? That-... that is impossible, it cannot be-..." I began to stammer.

"My fleet is in orbit of this world as we speak, a battle is about to be fought over head and I can assure you, we will win it," He smiled patronizingly at me and I repressed yet another show of anger. "Needless to say, when the battle is over, I will be summoning my forces to this planet, and they will under orders to unite the planet under your rule, the only person you will be answerable to is myself, alone."

I had never been so tempted in my life.

There were rumors, rumors from the past, of other kingdoms and other cultures that were spread out across the world. My great-grandfather had even put so much stock into the rumors that it was one of his most secret goals to conquer the world.

And this man was offering it to me freely.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

Looking up to the flickering stars, I frowned slightly.

I could feel the presence of thousands there, sitting on the edge of my vision, I could feel life wink of existence, I could feel excitement, fear, anger, loathing, dread and anxiety swirling in a massive torrent of emotion. It was all so very typical in a fleet battle, I'd felt it hundreds of times over my life and it would not change.

The only question was who was winning.

I knew that my servants felt me on this planet, I had made my presence known in the skirmish in the former King's throne room. Even the most mediocre of Dark Jedi would be able to feel my presence, if they were close enough, if they were close.

There was the overwhelming possibility that there Jedi in the enemy fleet.

A strained whimper from Bastila on the bed behind me drew my eyes back to her and away from the flickering lights of the battle overhead in the clear night-sky.

Bastila had a concussion, two broken bones, and probably a number of other injuries that she had sustained at the hand of the berserk creature that the former King had unleashed upon me. Despite my efforts to heal her, what she needed now was the delicate hands of a professional, and in a modern, clean and  _kind_  hospital.

There was of course the idea that she could get the same medical care from my physicians, but there was something, deep in my gut, and deep in the Force that was telling me not to do that. Despite everything else telling me otherwise, despite my active goal of preventing it from happening, I knew that she had to go back.

Leaning down and placing a hand over her forehead, I used the Force to calm her.

She had a fever.

On the one hand, I was so entirely disgusted myself for feeling these things about the girl. On the other, I knew I was perfectly justified, in two cases - and that ultimately, our fates were  _tied_  together. If she died on this planet, or died in the care of my doctors, or in the care of the Empire, she would drag me down with her.

Returning her to the Republic had a plethora of other risks, but it was the safest thing that I could afford to do right now. It was the safest place that I could place her, I would of course retrieve her later, under the hope that she didn't get herself killed, following a fool's errand. But she was their prize, and they would protect her.

Protect her until I choose to come back for her and take her.

Removing my hand from her forehead, I sighed deeply and looked back up to the overhead space battle.

I still couldn't quite reconcile the fact that this was reality.

But regardless if it was surreal or not, it was happening.

And when I turned to walk back onto the terrace, I had to remind myself of that.

* * *

**Revan's Point of View**

"Lord Revan, we're detecting a Republic Shuttle entering the atmosphere!"

I paid the young solider no mind and continued to observe the temporary stabilization methods that my medics were delivering to the unconscious Bastila, who had now been unconscious for nearly a standard day. That fact was worrying to me, despite the fact that I could feel her body healing itself through the Force.

"I know they are solider," I replied faintly, folding my arms over my bare chest and turned my head in the direction of the approaching shuttle. "I gave the order for it to be allowed through - and gave the order for them to come and claim the Jedi."

I could feel his hesitance with his next question, and when I turned to raise an eyebrow, I offered him a small smile, "Feel free to speak as freely as you want?"

"I beg your pardon, Lord Revan - it is not my pl-..." The solider stuttered.

"You're asking yourself why I allowed the Republic Shuttle to penetrate the defense perimeter? It's quite simple, I have no  _current_ use for the girl right now," I chuckled slightly and turned a faint glance towards her. I was doing this for her own good, I had to keep telling myself that one fact. "Her talents would be useless if she was dead, and frankly, if she was imprisoned, I have no other choice."

When the shuttle flew overhead and the resulting rush of the wind swept through the forest clearing, I steeled myself for the confrontation. I could feel the Jedi that were aboard their shuttle, I could feel their fear, their anxiety and their  _resolve_.

I summoned my lightsaber to my hand, just in case.

"Steady on Solider," I attempted to bring the now fearful men behind me some sort of comfort. I was sure that these men were new to the service, they had to be - veteran soldiers, while no match for a trained Jedi Knight, held no fear of them.

Watching the landing struts of the shuttle deploy, and the cacophony of dust and dirt fly away from the craft in all direction, I marveled in the fact that I did not anticipate this occurring when I began this journey. My power of foresight was strong, but it had not saw this, it had not seen me giving Bastila back to them.

Looking back to the unconscious bane of my existence, I frowned.

Perhaps she was no longer the bane of my existence, but perhaps something entirely, and that, I realized, was what was making this harder than it should have been. I claimed to hold the power in the relationship, every single last iota of it all.

What Bastila did not know was that in the end, she held the real power.

And I hated myself for allowing it to happen.

It was only after the sound of an igniting lightsaber that drew my attention around.

Leading a pack of medics and soldiers was a Jedi Knight - and I smiled.

The boy, yes - he was young enough to still be called  _a boy_ , reeked of arrogance that perhaps he could not see. From a general perspective, he was like any other Jedi - but this one was different, he was unmolded, unshaped - and utterly feckless.

I silently dared the boy to attack me.

Folding my arms behind my back, being sure to keep my lightsaber at the ready in my right palm - I observed the boy silently.

I silently breathed a prayer of relief when he beckoned the medics and soldiers to retrieve Bastila.

"Darth Revan, you are under arrest for crimes against Galactic Republic, which include, but are certainly not limited to the attempted murder of Republican Military Personnel, destruction of Republic Military Property, murder of innocent civilians and non-combatant naval personnel, as well as the murder of Jedi Master Vrook."

I smirked at the boy, "And quite a  _delicious_  murder it was."

My smirk widened when I felt the boy seethe with barely concealed anger.

"Take the girl, get on the shuttle, return to your fleet and leave this now-occupied system at once," I warned him with a hint steel in my voice, dropping the pleasantries all together. "And tell your masters that if any harm comes to her..."

I brought my right hand up and activated my weapon, "You will all answer for it."

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

There was a white haze around my vision.

I could absently hear the soft, gentle whispering in my ear, and the shouting and rocking from all around me, but it was the foreground, there - but not really there.

Where was I?

Where was Revan?

"Jedi Shan," I blinked lazily and turned my head to face an older human woman, dressed in a Republic Military uniform. "Will you blink once if you can hear me?"

I blinked at the woman.

"Good," Her voice was gentle.

So gentle.

And so lulling.

"We're going to immerse you in Bacta," The woman said. "It should heal..."

I wasn't listening though, in fact, I let out a long, slow and soft moan when I felt a presence brush against my mind. I knew who it was instantaneously, he was always there, at least it had felt like it for the past few weeks - and I was momentarily surprised by the fact that I had gotten too used to his presences.

_"I will return for you," Revan's voice was soft in my mind. "Never forget the fact that you are mine and mine alone - nothing will keep me from you in the end."_

I hummed slightly - his presence was so bloody comforting.

 _"May the Force be with you,"_ His voice began to fade. " _May it keep you strong."_


	17. Interlude II

 

 

 

**Interlude**

**Darth Revan's Point of View**

**Five Standard Years before the events of Chapter Fifteen.**

* * *

We'd come too far to be stopped now.

The end was in sight, the end of a journey across the entire galaxy.

I truly did not believe that violence was the most effective way in gaining the information that I needed, but it was the only viable method that I had left. I wasn't sure how, but I could feel that the time we had to find the weapon was slipping from our grasp. There could be no more time for idle threats, and the many simple, and very blunt, interrogation methods of my more enthusiastic servants.

"You know, there are many ways that I can retrieve the information that I need," I grasped the man's chin with my gloved hand and forced his head back. "I am not a monster, contrary to myth, so I'm going to give you one last chance to retain your sanity, and your _life_ – tell me where you are hiding the last Star Map?"

I didn't know how, I didn't know when, but this man had the knowledge to the last piece of the puzzle to the Star Forge – and I wouldn't be leaving the room until I had retrieved it from him. It wasn't a lie when I told him that I could get that information anytime that I wanted it, but perhaps he needed to think that it was.

In the interest of preserving his usefulness for the future, I wanted to avoid destroying his mind. The method did work, it just tended to cause the subject to lose their grip on reality – and perhaps that was what the originators had intended.

"Jedi," He hissed. "You'll never be allowed to see it, it isn't meant for you."

His vicious sneer almost made me laugh, _almost_.

"Irony of ironies," I paired my right index finger and my right middle finger together and held it just before his chin. I could almost feel his astonishment in the Force as lightning began to crackle at the tips. "You'll find that I am no Jedi."

The man, whom I assumed now was a guardian of the map – visibly gulped.

It would only make sense that he was the guardian of the piece of the navigational chart, the Infinite Empire's influence continued to echo down the ages.

And the Lords of the Infinite rarely left their treasures unguarded.

Even in death.

"You cannot let _him_ have it," The guardian locked eyes with me, and for a moment – just a split moment, I felt my heart spasm. It wasn't a good feeling, to feel that level of fear. "With the Star Forge at his control, he'll devour everything."

Fear was healthy – it kept us safe from things worthy of fear.

Being around _him_ , it was like being consumed by darkness.

Malak was blissfully unaware, but I could see the writing on the wall when it came to him. I could gaze into the future, and I knew where the Galaxy would end up if I allowed the station to come under the control of the ruler of the true Sith.

If he had a name, it was long lost to the galaxy at large.

"I have no intention of letting them take commandeer that forge, but to protect it, I need to secure it," I snarled at the man. "Now, this is your last chance, and this is the last time that I will ask for it, where is the map, how do I get to it?"

He looked up me, and his eyes conveyed something that was akin to pleading. It took me a moment to realize that he _was_ pleading for mercy, without saying the actual words, he was attempting to plead for his wretched life with _me_.

"Oh, I'll give you a small mercy," I clenched my fist, allowed lightning to crackle and arch between my knuckles, and with the Force, punched him in the jaw.

Smiling as I felt him drift into unconsciousness, I stilled myself for a moment.

It was a terrible thing, a very terrible thing, tearing apart someone's mind and ruthlessly disturbing everything in it to find what you were looking for. The argument _could_ be made that it was almost an unnatural thing to do – yet, those same people had no qualms about brainwashing an individual if it suited their ends.

The only difference between those people, and myself, was that I was willing to admit that what I was doing was to serve my own ends. I didn't hide behind the pathetic pretext of morality and serving an altogether greater force than myself.

The Jedi were such fools.

Taking a deep breath in, I shut my eyes and dropped to my knees.

The technique was ancient, it predated even the Republic, the Jedi, the Sith, the foundations of the modern galaxy. In days long past, it had been known to kill the user if they did not possess the proper amount of willpower to do the deed.

Since then, it had been perfected, and that method had survived many years – thankfully, down into the modern day. It had even survived the Jedi's attempt to suppress all knowledge of it, once they deemed its power too dark for them to use.

Ironically, I knew for a fact that the senior Jedi Council knew how to do it.

Every single member was fully versed in it – again, using that oh-so readily available rational of suiting the greater good.

Hypocrites.

Taking a deep breath in, I squeezed my eyes tighter, and sunk deep within the Force, summoned my awareness like a knife, and _stabbed_ into the man's mind.

At my penetration, I could feel the shock radiating through his mind.

And the shock merely amplified as I easily destroyed the flimsy mental defenses that he possessed, and moved forward, deeper and _deeper_ into his mind.

I warned him.

* * *

Malak was ever present at my side as we watched our troops advance.

Oh yes, I did eventually discover where the Infinite Empire had hidden the Star Map. What the guardian had quite cleverly hidden from me was that it was surrounded by a Krayt Dragon, and that dragon had made its _nest_ around the map.

"Is the port secure?" I asked Malak as the troops got closer to the cave.

"We've declared a state of martial law in Anchorhead," He replied, his voice tightening as our soldiers began to open fire into the dragon's cave. "We have a fleet of ships blockading the spaceport until we've finished with our activities here."

I turned to him and raised an eyebrow, the sun was causing a numbing glare in my eyes, "I understand that you captured a Krayt Dragon from The Dune Sea?"

"I intended to release it on Korriban to clear out the Valley of the Dark Lords while we get the Academy functioning," He pursed his lips. "You wish otherwise?"

Not quite – that had its uses.

"Did you find an egg in the nest?" I turned back to the cave.

"Yes," Malak replied.

"Good, when we're done here, I want you to dispatch a team, order them to raise the egg and hatch it in the cave," I folded my arms over my chest and motioned sharply with my head for him to follow me, as the beast inside of the cave let out a monstrous death cry. "I want it guarding the navigational chart."

"Do you wish for any conditioning?" Malak inquired.

"Yes," My lips curled. "I want it to eat anything that attempts to enter that cave that isn't you or myself."

Or just me – that would work.

That would work perfectly.

* * *

There it was.

All this time, searching for it – all of these lives that I had ended, all of these many lives that I had destroyed, they all seemed to be worth it, all in that instant.

"Relay the coordinates to Admiral Varrow," I commanded, stepping closer to peer the lightly blinking system in the holographic representation of the Unknown Regions. "Then, I want you to order all of our ships to converge on that system, secure all of the planets, and then you and I will go onboard to secure the station."

"Yes master," Malak commanded, turning on his heel.

I sensed overwhelming hatred flowing off of him.

My eyes drifted up slightly to follow the retreating form of my oldest friend.

I had no doubt that he loathed me, and that he coveted my role, my title and our armies for himself. I also was under no illusions as to whether or not I could trust him, trust my own right hand, trust the man that I had fought and bleed with.

And the truth was that I couldn't.

No matter what happened, no matter how deep the illusion of friendship between us, I had always managed to keep him at arm's length and always would.

Even now, even before we had set eyes upon the station, I could sense betrayal, I could sense _plotting_. My old master was very good at betrayal, she was also good at preventing betrayal, and she was _very_ good at getting her revenge.

Unfortunately for Malak, she passed that penchant down to me.

From this moment on, the means would always be in place, just lying in wait.

When Malak inevitably struck, they would be waiting.

I was patient.

 


	18. Chapter Sixteen

**Chapter Sixteen**

**Darth Revan's Point of View**

**Eighteen Months Later** – **Imperial-Huttese Border**

Everything was in position.

If the intelligence assets in place been correct, and their assessment of the situation was too, then we had more than enough ships in position to take Nal Hutta.

That would, in effect, _choke_ the rest of Hutt Space into submission, and they would be forced to give into the demands that I made. The Hutts gave into force, they very rarely gave into diplomacy, and I was still kicking myself for even thinking that approach, the first approach that I had taken with them in the negotiations, would work.

It was because of my over-eagerness to get my hands on the map, that I even found myself in this position. The most humiliating aspect about the failed talks was that I hadn't even realized my tactical error until I was on my ship, and heading back into Imperial Space. I had been so clouded by my internalized fear and desire to get my hands on that map that I let it show, and I should have remembered beforehand, that it was in the very nature of the Hutts to pick up on it.

"To all tactical units," Captain Jaq commanded to the crew pits, as he took his place beside me. My new adjutant took to his role well, and I found that the man was light years more useful than my adjutants of the past. "Prepare to enter hyperspace."

"Sir, you realize that the odds are against us," Jaq murmured quietly.

He was also very opinionated, which was good.

Malak had hated opinionated officers – I, on the other hand, found them useful.

I let a curve under my mask, "I don't want to conquer Hutt space, I just want to force the Five Families into a position where they _have_ to surrender to me."

"They've ruled this space for a hundred thousand years, they survived the Republic, the Jedi and the Sith," The man's voice was almost wry in nature, and if it were any other situation, I would assume that he was joking, but I knew that he wasn't.

I knew that Jaq was right – it was the same protests that my Admirals had lodged, as well as the heads of the military. Even with the vast armada that the Star Forge could produce, there simply was no telling how many resources that the Hutt Empire was able to draw on. In theory, the fleet protecting their space could be limitless.

It was a nightmare scenario, I suppose – to fall in that trap.

To be outdone by Hutts.

"I only need for them to deliver the map," I snipped back, impatience growing by the second. "Afterwards, I'll return control of the planet to them and all will return to normal."

"It won't just go back to normal, you know this."

I gave him more leeway in expressing his opinion, yes – and in moments like this, I knew that it was a good policy to have. It was Jaq's unspoken job to help me keep one foot rooted to the ground as I proceeded forward with my plans. The last time I didn't have someone to keep me grounded, I was captured by the Jedi and that _girl_.

"And if they retaliate, we'll be ready for them," I huffed slightly. "Now, are we ready?"

I watched out of the corner of my eye as Jaq looked down to the command pit for affirmation, and then reassumed his crisp stance, "The fleet is ready on your command."

I folded my arms together and made a motion with my fingers, "By all means."

This entire endeavor was being undergone because the Hutt Cartel had _somehow_ acquired the last known map of the old Sith Empire in the Unknown Regions.

It was the last one known to exist – not even the Jedi Temple had one.

When word first reached me that they had it, I wasted no time in opening negotiations with the Hutts, and I offered everything that I _thought_ could sway them.

That had been my mistake – and now I was forced to do this.

I had offered them billions of credits, I offered to let them annex territory, I offered to assist them in conquering the Outer Rim and leashing the more minor cartels of Wild Space. They saw through me on the first offer, and they still refused to give me the map.

Now I would take it by force.

* * *

"The first battle group has been completely destroyed," Jaq reported.

I looked up from the tactical readout and sneered, "I can see that, thank you."

There was far more going on here than met the eye, I wouldn't tell him that – but I was sure that he could tell that something was wrong. It was an understatement to say that the battle was not progressing well – and normally, I would have had my wits about me. If this had been a normal situation, I would retreat, and lick my self-inflicted wounds.

Then return, with _overwhelming_ force.

"We need to retreat sir, we cannot win this," He walked closer to whisper into my ear, careful to keep his council away from officers that were simply not meant to hear it.

My fists clenched at my sides.

I was so damned sure that I was going to win this, I was convinced that I had enough ships to take control of Nal Hutta, and hold it hostage. I hadn't listened to my staff, I hadn't listened myself – I let my instincts be blinded by the drive to get that map.

That left two possibilities – and perhaps both were correct.

In my attempt to lessen my overconfidence in battle, I had allowed myself to become stupid. I fought two wars and conquered half of the galaxy with my instincts, and in one fell swoop, I had undone everything that I had fought for.

And yet – there was something keeping me here.

It wasn't something that I was doing under my own will, I knew that much.

I could feel it in the Force, on the very edge of awareness – tugging at me, tugging at all those who surrounded me. I could feel it in Captain Rand, I could feel it in the minds of the deck officers, I could feel it the minds of the countess pilots in battle.

I could even feel it in the pilots working for the Hutts.

"How far are our nearest reinforcements?" I questioned, keeping my eyes on the live tactical readout. It displayed the position of every ship in the battle, and as the moments ticked on, the position that my troops found themselves in _wasn't_ improving.

"Eighteen hours away at maximum velocity," He answered.

I should've ordered the retreat – but I couldn't leave yet, not just yet.

"If you're bent on this, then we should retreat now, gather our forces and return with the largest fleet that the galaxy has ever seen," His voice began to take on a hint of desperation – he knew, just as well as I did that time was running short. "Return with an armada, and an occupation army – we can't hold this planet with a fleet of this size!"

I was angry now - I was angry because I knew that he was right.

I knew that this same message, that had been in my ear since the design of this plan, was correct, and I had gone along with it anyway. I had stayed the course, and I had walked myself right into the middle of a trap that I still didn't know how to defeat.

"Have the battle groups break formation and cover our escape," I had to fight that guttural, _visceral_ feeling to stay and fight this out. "After that, signal the general retreat."

Humiliation, I could deal with that – it was a temporary feeling at best, especially if the source of the humiliation could be remedied with speed. I wasn't unaccustomed to humiliation, that wasn't why I was hesitating to do this, it was _that_ map, down there in a palace on Hutta.

The longer that they had possession of that navigational chart, and I didn't – the higher the risk grew of them finding out its exact uses, and the higher chances became of them delivering it into the hands of the Jedi. That was something that could not be allowed – and after this battle, I wouldn't be surprised if the Hutts simply gave it to them.

"Send a message to all of our fleets within range to converge at Toydaria," I was doing all that I could not let my anger express itself, express itself on my bridge crew.

The murderous rage that was starting bubble up within me was halted.

The violent shaking of the bridge saw to that, and any other orders I had disappeared.

"Captain, there's a fleet of enemy ships coming out of hyperspace, they're outflanking us!" One of the crew pit officers, a lieutenant, shouted over the great noise.

"Oh really, I would never have guessed," I rolled my eyes as conduits exploded all around me, and turned back to the viewport and began to scan the horizon for them.

There they were, to the left, and they were indeed outflanking my fleet, firing all their weapons, and cutting off any hopes of escaping into Imperial controlled space. If I hadn't felt stupid for walking into this before, without sense, or without looking to my instincts for guidance, I certainly did now, because now, it was clearly an elaborate trap.

Tuning out Jaq, as he screamed orders at the bridge crew, I drifted back into the Force and reached out to that fleet of Republic ships.

Through the Force, the Republic fleet was clustered tightly around a hammer-head class battle cruiser, and _from_ that cruiser, pure power radiated.

While I had felt that power before, from more than one person, I hadn't quite felt it at this ferocity before.

It was also notable that it was far more skilled then the last time that I had felt it, it felt as if coming from a master.

Bastila.

Oh – _she_ was commanding this fleet.

Now it was coming together – if my hunch was correct, it all made sense now.

* * *

**Bastila's Point of View**

I kept my eyes locked onto Revan's command ship through the viewport.

Unlike when we first met, his presence in the Force was far more tempered, compared to the blazing beacon of darkness that he had been before. I wouldn't be fooled into thinking that he was somehow redeemed, or that he was somehow less powerful then he was before. I had said it before, and I had heard it said many times before, but interacting with Darth Revan was like interacting with the heart of the Force.

He could probably crush my throat from here, _from his bridge_.

"It's the Sith Flagship, Darth Revan is demanding to speak with you."

I allowed myself a small smile.

Months of planning and it still had worked, I had allowed my doubts to overwhelm me for a time, and allowed the fear of doing this to Darth Revan, again, to get the best of me. It had still worked, I had done things that I thought I wasn't capable doing before I met him, and it gave me no small amount of satisfaction to see it all work.

I had him – and the best part was that he hadn't even seen me coming.

"Patch him through."


End file.
